Kerala State Vaccination Certificate is Not Accepted; Expatriates in trouble

Many expatriates who have completed the Covid vaccination and got the certificate from the state government are in trouble. This is because most countries do not accept state vaccination certificates.

From the beginning, the vaccine was given by registering on the central government’s ‘Covin’ portal. The Government of Kerala has in the meantime launched its own website ‘kerala.gov.in/vaccination’ to facilitate distribution. The expatriates were helped to get a second dose quickly, but a number of strings followed.

The certificate issued by the state did not include the batch number and the date of vaccination. When this was not accepted by many countries, the certificate was modified by adding information. It was then that many countries stated that they could not accept the certificate of the state government. European countries are taking a tougher line. These countries do not accept the requirement that the certificate is attested by the District Medical Officer.