Vietnam adds six countries to vaccine passport acceptance list

[ASEAN NOW News]

Vietnam is accepting vaccine passports from seventy-eight countries and territories, with the addition of six more since October; and it is part of a similar list in Australia.

 

"Vietnam has temporarily recognized vaccination certificates from 78 countries and territories," foreign ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang confirmed at a press briefing on Thursday.

 

According to VN Express, the six new countries are: Canada, Iran, Iraq, Maldives, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

 

Hang noted that Vietnamese authorities have acted urgently to complete software solutions to quickly issue the vaccine passports form according to international standards, with the quarantine period for certificate holders reduced to seven days.

 

A passenger at the Noi Bai Airport, Hanoi, October 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

 

On countries that recognize Vietnam's vaccine passport, Hang said Australia joined the group, which also includes the U.S., the U.K., Japan and Belarus.

 

Canada has agreed in principle, while members of the ASEAN bloc and the European Union, China and South Korea are still in the process of reviewing and waiting for Vietnam to produce a consistent vaccine passport template, she said.

 

Responding to the question about the high demand among Vietnamese living abroad to visit Vietnam at the time of Tet, the Lunar New Year festival, Hang said the demand could be partly met if the government approves the suggestion of the Ministry of Transport to allow international flights to resume on nine routes from December 15.

 

The foreign ministry is continuing to cooperate with related parties to repatriate Vietnamese citizens from various locations in the world, based on their need, pandemic development, and Vietnam's quarantine capacity, she added.

 

So far, 200,000 Vietnamese have been brought back from sixty countries and territories on eight hundred repatriation flights.

 

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