The green light has finally arrived for those who have been vaccinated or ill with Covid-19 abroad, and therefore for both residents and tourists who were in Kenya at the time of the vaccination campaign and to whom the two doses of AstraZeneca were administered.
Our appeals, as well as the requests of the Kenyan Embassy and other foreign countries, together with the petitions of parliamentarians of different political persuasions, have contributed to an important result for Italian citizens who reside, work or are for other reasons temporarily abroad and here they are vaccinated or sick.
In reality, for Italians in Africa there is still a snag linked to those who have received the Covishield vaccine. If the certificate of immunisation bears the wording "Covishield", i.e. the AstraZeneca vaccine produced under licence by the Indian institute Serum, Europe has not yet approved it and will have to wait until the application for the Green Pass can be submitted.
For all the others, the time to obtain the certificate with which you can access all services, premises and travel in Italy and in European and international countries that recognise it, is near.
It will be the task of the ASLs to validate the certifications and register them in the health system in order to issue the "green" certification.
The Ministry of Health circular specifies that all residents abroad, including those not registered with AIRE or not in the national health system, and their family members, will be able to use this service.
"To request the issue of the Green Pass for complete vaccination or recovery, it is necessary to go to the local health authorities of territorial competence, according to the procedures established by the Regions and Autonomous Provinces and presenting, in addition to an identity document and tax code, a series of documents depending on whether you are requesting to have validated the vaccination or recovery". The circular explains.
As for the Kenyan side, those vaccinated (with AstraZeneca or with the next incoming vaccines, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson), will have to obtain from the Kenyan health company the certificate relating to their vaccine, with the date of administration and identification data of the office that issued the certificate.
Even those who fell ill abroad and therefore did not receive the vaccine, will be able to obtain the Green Pass, presenting to the ASL the certificate of recovery issued by the Health Authority of the country where he fell ill and recovered, which will show the identification data of the citizen, the date of the first positive molecular swab, in addition to the identification data of the person who issued the certificate.
The certificates, in paper or digital format, must be written in English. Those who fell ill abroad and were subsequently vaccinated abroad with a single dose will have to present both certificates to obtain a Green Pass. Those who received the first dose abroad and want to complete the vaccination cycle in Italy can also do so, but the green certificate for the first dose can only be requested if the validity period for the booster vaccine has not expired (currently 42 days for RNA vaccines and 84 days for AstraZeneca). The documentation submitted can only be validated by medical personnel.