NHS COVID Pass rolled out to fully vaccinated 12-15 year olds for international travel

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Dec 13 2021

Today, the NHS COVID pass will be rolled out to 12-15 year olds for international travel, allowing even more people to be able to prove their vaccine status.

• Fully vaccinated 12-15 year olds are now able to access a NHS COVID Pass letter for international travel
• Follows government decision to extend the vaccination program to include offer of both doses of vaccine to all 12-15 year olds
• Children remain exempt from certification in domestic settings and at the UK border

Children in England who have had a full course of a COVID-19 vaccination will be eligible for an NHS COVID Pass letter for travel from today (Monday 13 December).

This will allow those children who have had both doses of an approved vaccine to travel to countries, including Spain and Canada, which now require 12-15 year olds to be fully vaccinated in order to gain entry, avoid isolation, or access venues or services.

Proof of vaccination will initially be provided via a letter service including an internationally recognized 2D barcode, with a digital solution via NHS.uk to be rolled out early next year. The letter service can be accessed by calling 119 or via NHS.uk.

Health and Social Care secretary Sajid Javid said:

From today, I can confirm the NHS COVID Pass is being rolled out to 12-15 year olds for international travel, allowing even more people to be able to prove their vaccine status for travel where it's needed."

The move will enable families to plan holidays in 2022 with greater confidence, as parents can be reassured they will be able to evidence their child's vaccination status once they have had both doses of the vaccine.

It can take up to 7 days to receive a COVID Pass letter.

Children will remain exempt from domestic certification policy in England and will not require an NHS COVID Pass to gain entry to venues.

Chief Executive of NHSX Matthew Gould said:

This is another example of the NHS COVID Pass service responding to the changing situation, while maintaining the integrity of the NHS COVID Pass itself."

The vaccination program will be extended to offer all children aged 12-15 a second dose of an approved vaccine no sooner than 12 weeks after the first dose following the government's acceptance of JCVI advice on 29 November.

In the last year the NHS COVID-19 vaccination program has delivered over 100 million life-saving doses, preventing at least 24 million infections, hundreds of thousands of hospitalisations and almost 130,000 deaths.