Coronavirus and International Travel

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 19 October 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:42, 19 October 2021

Well, Llywydd, as the Member said, it is difficult to give advice on individual cases when answering questions. The general position is that the Welsh Government has agreed with the UK Government the expanded vaccine recognition arrangements, which were announced when the latest set of changes were introduced. That should mean that people who are vaccinated in other countries, where their vaccination regime meets the standards set out by our own regulator, will be able to get a vaccine certificate here in the United Kingdom and in Wales. But that is an important safeguard—that vaccines that are administered elsewhere in the world have to be vaccines that are recognised, that our system would regard as conveying protection on those individuals, and that the regime under which those vaccines are provided is one that would stand up to scrutiny. Provided those things are in place, then a significant liberalisation has been agreed across the United Kingdom, with more countries being recognised for these purposes, and more vaccine certification therefore able to be confirmed by our own system. Whether that applies in the case of the individual to which the Member refers, I would need some further particulars in order to be able to establish.