Now that the coronavirus pass has replaced the social distancing rule in public venues, many internationals struggle to gain entry to pubs and cinemas, even if they are fully vaccinated. Without a registration with the city, they can’t validate their non-EU vaccines.
That’s because the CoronaCheck app doesn’t recognise vaccines that are not approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Those internationals who received both jabs of Sputnik or certain types of AstraZeneca and Sinovac abroad, among others, can’t create a proof of vaccination that is seamlessly converted into an access pass.
Even though a foreign vaccination certificate can be validated with the GGD in Utrecht, that’s impossible without a citizen service number (BSN) at hand. And receiving a BSN is problematic for those internationals that haven’t found an accommodation where they can register with the municipality. That complicates their lives even further, as if being unable to apply for a DigiD and open a local bank account wasn’t enough.
Not accepted
‘I have different layers of problems because I am Indian and the version of the AstraZeneca vaccine I took isn’t automatically accepted’, says international security master student Mehk Chakraborty. And she is not the only one. ‘I do know people who had issues because they took non-EU vaccines.’
The only alternative that’s left for homeless internationals vaccinated abroad is to either show a proof of recovery from Covid, or get tested every time they plan to go out.