NHS app to double as Vaccine Passport from next week

The NHS App will double as a vaccine passport from Monday, but only if you have had both doses of the vaccine.

A paper version of the vaccine passport will be available if people ring 119. Passports will not be available via a GP. They can be requested five days after the final dose, and can take five days to arrive.

The NHS App will show your Vaccine Passport, but only once a doctor has enabled it. It will not show Coronavirus test results yet, although the government are hoping to add this at a later date.

As rules on foreign travel change on May 17th, many countries will require proof of a negative test before travelling.

Current Government advice is to check what rules individual countries have. Different countries use different Covid control – such as negative tests pre departures. Rapid lateral flow tests are available to order on the Government Website. This advice comes after the Government placed 12 countries on the ‘safe to fly’ list. However one of them, Portugal, is still currently for essential purposes only.

Travellers will still need to take a test upon returning to the UK.

Vaccine passport NOT available on NHS Covid 19 App

The NHS Covid app – which is currently in use to track locations of possible outbreaks – will not display the vaccine passport. This is different to the NHS App.

The NHS app is owned and run by the NHS, whereas the NHS Covid 19 app is run by the UK Department for Health and Social Care. The app allows you to access a range of services on a smartphone or tablet. These include repeat prescription requests, arranging doctors appointments and view medical records.

Since September 2019, the amount of users of the NHS app has increased from 91,000 to over 220,000 according to NHS Digital.

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