In the future, your corona vaccination passport will expire sooner

While the COVID-19 vaccines protect you from severe illness and hospitalisation, immunity does decrease over time in all age groups. This means that the risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 after vaccination – of getting a so-called vaccine breakthrough infection – gradually increases in the months after the 2nd dose. The Danish Health Authority has reached this conclusion upon reviewing all available documentation and knowledge.

The Danish Health Authority assesses that vaccine efficacy significantly decreases six months after the 2nd vaccine dose. Therefore, we recommend that all fully vaccinated citizens over the age of 18 receive a booster dose 6 months after the 2nd dose has been administered. This decision will now affect your corona passport’s expiration date.

"The corona passport is one of the tools we have to reduce the risk of infection where many people gather. We are constantly looking at whether we need to adjust the expiration date on the corona passport to prevent the spread of infection most effectively. Considering our current knowledge about the decrease in immunity and the positive effect of COVID booster jabs, the corona passport will now be valid for 7 months after the 2nd vaccine dose has been administered, and your corona passport will be renewed when you have received a booster dose,” says Deputy Director General Helene Probst.

"You will be offered a booster dose 5 months and 14 days after the 2nd vaccine dose, and we recommend that you get revaccinated as soon as possible. Your green corona passport will not expire if you get the booster jab within 7 months after you received the 2nd vaccine doses," continues Helene Probst.

The vaccines will continue to protect you from becoming severely ill from COVID-19, hospitalisation, and death, and immunity persists at least 6 months after you receive the 2nd jab. However, the effect does decrease within this time frame and the protective effect against becoming infected decreases even faster.

Booster jabs are highly effective

Updated knowledge has demonstrated that booster doses are effective and significantly increase protection against infection and severe illness, hospitalisation and death, irrespective of gender, age and concomitant diseases.

For the past several weeks, we have seen a flare-up of the epidemic In Denmark, mainly because the season has changed from autumn to winter and because the Delta variant is now the dominant type. Not only is the number of infected increasing, but there is also a significant increase in the number of patients admitted to the hospital. Although the risk of becoming ill and hospitalised is much higher if you have not been vaccinated, a percentage of fully vaccinated people are also hospitalised.

Therefore, the Danish Health Authority recommends that everyone over the age of 18 accept the offer of a booster dose in order to increase immunity among the Danish population. A decrease in immunity can significantly impact the development of the COVID-19 epidemic during the winter months, with the risk of a high morbidity rate and increased pressure on the healthcare system.

The Danish Health Authority recommends that you get a green corona passport immediately upon receiving your booster jab. You retain your corona passport if you get your 3rd jab within 7 months of the 2nd vaccine dose. At this time, knowledge of the duration of immunity after the 3rd jab is quite limited. Therefore, no expiration date of the corona passport after the booster vaccine has yet been set.

For 15 to 17 year-olds, there will be no changes in the duration of the validity of their corona passport after vaccination.

The change in the corona passport will take effect in mid-January 2022.