The agreement among EU ministers to introduce expiration dates for COVID-19 passports was already discussed and finalized in December. However, the Netherlands had not yet implemented this new measure. It takes effect on February 1, so what does this mean for Dutch residents?
Your COVID-19 passport is only valid for 9 months after your final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This effectively means that you must get a booster shot within 9 months of your second dose to obtain a new COVID-19 passport.
This requires a legislative change, and the bill will be sent to the House of Representatives shortly, but some countries already require a booster to enter the country. Austria, for example, requires people who haven’t received a booster to quarantine upon arrival.
So after 9 months, a person’s Covid passport must be renewed, but there is currently no plan requiring it to be renewed after that person has received a booster shot. This is because the long-term efficacy of the booster shot is not yet known. So one renewal after the booster shot, and then you should be able to use the new Covid-19 passport for the time being.
