Minister for Health announces changes to international travel requirements

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD, has signed regulations amending requirements around international travel to Ireland.

Since 31 October, home quarantine has no longer been required of any category of international traveller. Persons travelling to Ireland continue to be required to have appropriate proof of vaccination or recovery, or to present evidence of a valid RT-PCR test result. With effect from 9 November, further changes will apply to international travel policy:

travel regulations have been extended until February
2 vaccines which have received WHO emergency use listing (SinoPharm BIBP and Coronavac [Sinovac]) are now accepted for purposes of travel to Ireland
heterologous (mixed) vaccine doses are accepted for travel purposes
a combination of a single vaccine dose administered to a person who has recovered from COVID-19 infection will be accepted for travel purposes
persons who cannot show proof of vaccination, proof of recovery or a valid RT-PCR test result may be denied boarding by their carrier. Where a person travels without evidence of immunity or a test result, they will now also be required to take a RT-PCR test within 36 hours of arrival

Persons travelling to Ireland continue to be required to complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form. The form may be used for contact tracing or to contact passengers to provide public health advice.

Regulations having been signed:

the requirement to complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator form when travelling to Ireland from overseas is extended until February
the requirement on international passengers to maintain up to date contact details within 14 days of arrival has been lifted

Minister Donnelly said:

“Having regard to the epidemiological situation and latest public advice, it is important that we maintain proportionate measures to mitigate the risks associated with travel.

“Regulations I have signed today acknowledge that vaccination policies internationally differ, and that not everyone, including Irish citizens living overseas, can access the vaccine products and doses that we administer domestically.

“The acceptance for travel purposes of additional vaccine products and heterologous doses will mean that many people will be relieved of the requirement to undergo RT-PCR testing when travelling to Ireland.”

Notes

based on WHO Emergency Use Listing and public health advice, people vaccinated with Sinopharm BIBP or Cornavac (Sinovac) will not have to undergo RT-PCR testing when travelling to Ireland
Sinopharm WIBP has not received WHO Emergency Use Listing and is not currently accepted for travel to Ireland
a single vaccine dose administered to a recovered person is acceptable where the vaccine dose is given no more than 180 days after a positive RT-PCR test result. This change acknowledges that some health services will consider such a person fully vaccinated and that the person may not have access to a second vaccine dose
a person who travels to Ireland from overseas without acceptable proof of vaccination, proof of recovery, a valid RT-PCR test or evidence of an exemption is now required to take a RT-PCR test within 36 hours of arrival. Failure to do so is an offence
antigen testing is not accepted for travel to Ireland

The full list of accepted vaccine accepted for travel is:

A full course of any one of the following vaccines:	Regarded as vaccinated after:
2 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine: BNT162b2 (Comirnaty®)	7 days
2 doses of Moderna Vaccine: CX-024414 (Moderna®)	14 days
2 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine: ChAdOx1-SARS-COV-2 (Vaxzevria® or Covishield)	15 days
1 dose of Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Vaccine: Ad26.COV2-S [recombinant] (Janssen®)	14 days
2 doses of Coronavac (Sinovac)	14 days
2 doses of Sinopharm BIBP	14 days
A heterologous (mixed) dose of any of the above vaccines	Apply the information above as it applies to the second dose
A single dose of any of the above vaccines administered within 180 days of a positive RT-PCR test result. The traveller must hold proof of the positive test and the vaccine dose	Apply the information above as it applies to the administered vaccine

Minister for Health announces changes to international travel requirements

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