The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, told The New York Times that Americans who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 should be able to travel to Europe by summer. The union’s 27 members would accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by the European Medicines Agency.
“The Americans, as far as I can see, use European Medicines Agency-approved vaccines” von der Leyen said. “This will enable free movement and travel to the European Union.”
“Because one thing is clear: All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by E.M.A” she added. The agency, the bloc’s drugs regulator, has approved all three vaccines being used in the United States, namely the Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson shots.
Ms. von der Leyen did not offer a timeline on when exactly tourist travel might open up, or details on how it would occur.
Further details are not available at the moment but this is a welcome change from the current travel ban. Earlier, Greece, Croatia and Iceland are also confirmed to be open to fully vaccinated American tourists this summer.
To Lalo Prentice: if you already have the airplane ticket: make sure you have your vaccination paperwork from the U.S. and also buy an on-line train ticket out of Germany to Croatia.
There is a Munich – Zagreb train daily, departing Munich few minutes before the midnignt.
Tell at the border, you only transiting through Germany and your ultimate destination is Serbia. It appears, visa is not required for citizens of Peru to travel to Serbia. Present your train ticket at the border. An informal letter from the Serbian embassy in Lima that you do not need visa to enter Serbia and they have no COVID-related objections would be useful (just in case). After that an informal letter from the German embassy in Lima that they have no objections you entering Germany would be useful. These informal letters aren’t an official requirement though – just help in an emergency situation. I expect Serbs being more flexible.
It is also important to get a statement from your employer that you are on a business travel otherwise while you can enter Germany your stay at any hotel could be denied. It also helps you to get the embassy letters.
Sorry, it is a huge mess – the travel is still possible, they are merely scared of the mass tourism and are somewhat in a panic mode. Keep in mind, in a small country like Hungary (10 million people) the number of daily COVID victims barely dropped below 100, was over 200 for over a month. The COVID measures look crazy and illogical, apologies for that but this is something no one faced since the “Spanish Flu”.
What about Others fully vaccinated? I’m a Peruvian living in Peru, but got my vaccine a month ago in the US, and have air tickets for August to Germany. Do i still need to quarantine once i Land in Germany?
There was no mention from the EU commissioner’s interview.
How about the other way round? When will the U.S. allow fully vaccinated EU and UK citizens to enter the country without having to quarantine?
Define “Summer”. They even state “did not offer a timeline on when exactly tourist travel might open up” so that could be August for all we know. Frankly, I’m surprised Europe is considering this with their track record on Covid and the smaller percentage of vaccinated people in Europe. Not to mention some areas are using inferior vaccine brands. I hope they open it all up next week. It is time to pull the bandaid off on all this.