Sputnik Vaccines Excluded from Europe's Tourism Reopening

The European Commission (EC)'s draft plan to reopen Europe for non-essential travel appears ready to exclude a leading COVID-19 vaccine, the Sputnik V Vaccine.

According to the Washington Post on May 19, 2021, EC spokesman Christian Wigand stated, “Today, E.U. ambassadors agreed to update the approach to travel from outside the European Union (EU)." The EC “now recommends that member states ease some restrictions, in particular for those vaccinated with an E.U.-authorized vaccine.”

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued authorizations for the Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech), COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna, Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca), and COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen as of May 19, 2021.

This EC statement indicates international travel plans of residents from over 60 counties would be impacted that are administering the Sputnik V or the new Sputnik Light vaccines.

However, this proposed EC guidance would not be binding, meaning that some EU countries could choose to be more or less restrictive regarding which COVID-19 vaccines are acceptable.

And as of May 18, 2021, both the EMA and World Health Organization indicate they are 'reviewing data regarding the Sputnik V vaccine' without a confirmed approval date committed.

Additionally, a future administrative issue for European travelers could be the EC's proposed vaccine passport.

On March 17, 2021, the EC presented a proposal to create a Digital Green Certificate to facilitate the safe free movement of citizens within the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. When traveling abroad, every EU citizen or third-country national legally staying or residing in the EU, who holds a Digital Green Certificate, would be exempted from free movement restrictions in the same way as citizens from the visited EC Member State.

Currently, the US government has Authorized three experimental COVID-19 vaccines but has not announced a COVID-19 vaccine passport program. Two leading travel destination states, Florida and Texas, have already banned requiring vaccine passport requirements.