Can a vaccinated 13 year old obtain a valid vaccination certificate to fly?

[Janus]

We are off to Portugal for half term, we are fully vaccinated, son is under 12 so doesn’t apply but daughter is 13 and had her jab but I don’t see anywhere where they accept this?? I think she still has to have a PCR test, does anyone know if this is correct? Many thanks.

If she's only had 1 vaccine then she isn't fully vaccinated.

I don’t know the rules for Portugal but the jiet 2 website is quite detailed by destination. Try there

If you do not have an NHS COVID Pass or an EU digital COVID certificate, you must:

• take a COVID-19 pre-departure test before you travel (children up to the age of 11 are exempt)
• this can be an antigen test taken within 48 hours of departure, or a RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure.

If you have an antigen test, make sure it meets the standards set out in theEU common list of Rapid Antigen Tests

check your test result identifies the type of test taken and gives your name, date of birth, the date and time the sample was collected and the date of the result

you should not use the NHS testing service to get a test in order to facilitate your travel to another country. You should arrange to take a private test

complete anonline passenger locator card

@dementedpixie but 13 years olds can only have one vaccination, they do not have 2, so in effect they are fully vaccinated?? It’s very confusing!
@sleepwouldbenice thank you, I’ll have a look at their website, thanks.

I know they can only have 1 so thay can't be counted as fully vaccinated. (I have a 15 year old who has had 1 jab). Looks like PCR or LFT can be done as in the info I put above

The UK isn't giving two doses routinely but other countries are.

In Europe they give both vaccines so if you want to travel to an Eu country the. You need both

It is the same with those that have passed the virus. Within the Eu if you have had the virus some countries only provide 1 jab. However the uk doesn’t accept it so says they aren’t vaccinated.

Your 13yo unluckily won’t count as fullly vaccinated for Portugal

@dementedpixie you’re right! Despite your age you’re only considered fully vaccinated if you’ve had 2, even if you can’t have 2 because of your age!! What a pain! Good job I checked, I shall now get a LFT booked! Thanks.

Fully vaccinated means at least 14 days after 2nd vaccine. Your dd can't be counted as fully vaccinated by that definition. She would need PCR or LFT for Portugal

www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/portugal/entry-requirements

The UK is choosing to delay the second dose for 12-15 year olds, at least until spring, so they are not fully vaccinated after 1 dose. A full course is 2 doses. Other countries are fully vaccinating and sticking to the 3-4 week gap too.

Although in the UK 12-15 year olds are only offering one dose, in other countries they are using both doses and you need both doses to be counted as fully vaccinated. The information for each country's COVID requirements are on the relevant country page on the FCO website.

I have only checked for a France, but it clearly specifies that anyone who has been vaccinated needs 2 doses of Pfizer, Moderna or Astra-Zeneca, or one dose of Janssen (which is a single-dose vaccine).

It is very limiting for UK children of this age in terms of travel but you can usually still go. You will need a PCR (or sometimes antigen) test a certain length of time before you travel (for France this is 24 hours, not sure about Portugal) and then you will need to check whether a pass is needed to enter restaurants etc. Again for France if you want to go to a restaurant, museum or other public place you have to present a negative test taken in the previous 72 hours. Many European countries offer tests at pharmacies, although you have to pay.

Such a pain in the arse not giving them two vaccinations for travel purposes. Typical government of ours.

We’re going to Greece in half term and my 12 yr old had covid in July so I’ve been trying to get a proof of recovery for her. I called 119 last week and the person I spoke to said that they are not yet set up to provide covid passes or proof of recovery for anyone under 16 (above this age you can download the nhs app and get the pass). So we have ordered an antigen rapid test for her via Tui (our holiday provider) and are keeping our fingers crossed it’s negative before we go.
It’s a crazy setup and no one seems to have a clue!

Fully vaccinated is two so she doesn't count as fully vaccinated.

I’m shocked to find out European countries are doing 2 jabs for 12+ but we’re not, I assumed it was for health reasons 1 jab was considered fully vaccinated, ie that’s all their bodies could handle not just that our useless government didn’t want to pay for 2.
I haven’t even begin to work out what the new lateral flow tests are, replacing the day 2 test. Maybe I’ll look at that on a sun lounger!!

It isn’t that they don’t want to pay for the second. They are still assessing the cardiomyopathy risk. Has all been covered very fully in the news

That doesn’t make sense if most Europeans countries are doing it though, they’d hardly be risking children’s health??

Or perhaps they would as see risk as low...

Sorry attachment are in wrong order janus but that's the medical summary based on US children's vaccine data

Each country makes their own decisions, if they've decided the benefit of wider vaccine immunity is greater than the very small risk of cardiomyopathy, then that's their decision. SAGE advised against routine vaccination of under 16s, JCVI went with 1 dose now and 2nd to be decided.

@happytoday73 very interesting. I do read that (although this may be me!!) weighing up the pros and cons of having the vaccination. It doesn’t seem to split this between one and two jabs though?? So therefore if you have one and you are ok might as well go ahead and have both? I may not be reading this right though??!!

There is a higher risk of myocarditis especially in young males after the 2nd vaccine. This might be what is causing the hesitancy over giving the 2nd one to this age group

The risk of myocarditis in young males is still greater from covid itself than from the second vaccine. Latest data from US.

To the best of my knowledge UK is the only country that is vaxxing 12-15 with just one dose.

Personally its incredibly annoying as it’s meant lots of hoops for half term for our 12 year old!

It's not just Europe but in many other countries that teens have had/are required to have 2 vaccines in order to be classed as fully vaccinated. For many countries eg Canada, this currently means that Uk 12 x17 years olds would need to do 14 days hotel quarantine on arrival. This is infuriating, we have family in Canada who we are desperate to see (plus my DDad in New Zealand) & it may be another 3 years before we can travel there with DS who is 15.

@legosunqueen that’s incredibly tough, I’m so sorry, I didn’t think of that complication (my daft holiday is nothing compared to you not seeing family). I hope they resolve this some time soon