The European Union is considering allowing foreign nationals who have completed vaccination against coronavirus (COVID-19) to enter its member countries.
On Monday, the European Commission (EC) submitted a proposal to allow foreigners to enter the bloc if they have been fully vaccinated with an EU-approved vaccine.
“The Commission proposes to allow entry to the EU for non-essential reasons not only for all persons coming from countries with a good epidemiological situation but also all people who have received the last recommended dose of an EU-authorized vaccine,” the EC said in a statement on Monday.
The EU has so far authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson&Johnson vaccines, while the Sputnik V vaccine is under review.
People would have to have completed vaccination at least 14 days before arriving in the EU, according to the proposal.
The EC also proposed raising “the threshold related to the number of new COVID-19 cases used to determine a list of countries from which all travel should be permitted.”
Additionally, it proposed an “emergency brake” mechanism that would enable the EU to quickly implement travel restrictions when needed, to lower the possibility of bringing in new variants of the virus from countries witnessing a decline in their health situation.
Currently, the EU only allows entry to the citizens of 7 countries for non-essential reasons such as holidays.
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