On December 27, the European Union has begun the vaccine rollout to fight Covid-19. Those who had vaccines in Europe started to come to an advantage.
More than 14 million people have been infected, and strict lockdown measures are currently in place in nearly all the member states. Member states also applied measures to travellers from higher-risk areas including testing and self-quarantine.
Turkish daily Sözcü reported that German state of Saxony-Anhalt has ruled that vaccinators will not comply with the quarantine obligation. Accordingly, the vaccinated person does not have to go into quarantine, even if he/she comes from the risk zone.
Schengen Visa Application
Turkey is still listed in the high-risk countries and the visa appointments have been suspended for about 9 months. But according to the article, the visa appointments will soon resume only for vaccinated travelers.
Moreover, German travelers who will visit Turkey in near future will also be required to receive the vaccine rather than presenting a negative COVID-19 test result.
“Only a tiny percentage of people around the world have so far received the vaccine, whereas there are vast numbers who have not, but who could be tested, show a negative result, and travel safely. The common sense approach is to allow the free movement of people who can prove a negative test result, rather than reserve travelling or jobs for a small minority who have been vaccinated,” said Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO.
The BioNTech/Pfizer was approved first for use in the EU, followed by the Moderna.
Meanwhile, China’s Sinovac Biotech delivered its vaccines to Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday announced that the vaccines will be implemented in order of priority. “We will start by Thursday or Friday,” he said.
However, it is not clear if the EU members will accept people that received Sinovac vaccine.
More than 350,000 people in the 27 nations that make up the European Union have died from Covid-19 since the first fatality was recorded in France on February 15.
