Essential international travel made possible by vaccination certificate

Swansea Council’s contact tracing and IT teams are making it possible for Welsh people who have an essential reason to travel internationally to get vaccination certificates in time for their trip.

The teams have worked in close partnership with Welsh Government and Digital Health and Care Wales, setting-up the service from scratch in just over a week and already over 5,000 certificates have been issued to travellers who have needed to travel.

Thanks to the new service people have been able to travel for medical and compassionate reasons or, when travel’s been necessary, to countries where it’s mandatory to have proof of vaccination.

The service is being provided by a team of 40 Swansea council staff, most of them working from home, and so far more than 90% of applicants have been able to get their vaccination certificates.

Rob Stewart, Leader of Swansea Council, said: “We’ve been working for the people of Swansea throughout the pandemic, providing critical services at vital times to tens of thousands of people in our communities.

“Now our expertise in hosting one of the largest contact tracing service in Wales is being used to support people from across Wales needing to make an essential trip abroad but had to have a vaccination certificate to do so.

“We’re very pleased to be supporting the Welsh Government and travellers up and down the country so they can safely get to their destinations.

“The fact we were able to set up the service within eight days of being asked to do so is a testimony to the expertise, flexibility and dedication of our local authority staff.”

Swansea Council runs one of the largest Test Trace Protect (TTP) service in Wales, covering the whole of the Swansea Bay health board region.

Officers were confident that with the skills and expertise of council staff that it could take on the additional work on top of its essential role in tracing close contacts of people who have tested positive for the virus.

Since going live on 24 May, Swansea’s bilingual team has been providing a vaccination certification service for the whole of Wales.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: “This is a great example of a council creating a service from scratch in an extremely short space of time. I also want to thank Digital Health and Care Wales and everyone involved for their efforts.”

Swansea Council’s TTP Manager, Hywel Lewis said: “It’s a credit to the staff from across the council who have come together to help make the launch of this service a success. To go from a standing start to a fully operational all-Wales service in such a short time is a testament to their flexibility and dedication.”

People living in Wales can request a certificate only if:

• They have had both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine (they should wait five days after their second dose before requesting it)
• They urgently need to travel to a country which requires vaccine certification
• They are not able to either quarantine or provide tests to meet country entry requirements.

Mandatory quarantine is in place for all people returning to the UK from countries on the amber and red lists. All people returning from overseas travel must have a PCR test. People traveling overseas must also follow the rules of the countries they plan to visit.

People can call 0300 303 5667 to request a vaccination certificate for urgent international travel only.

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