COVPASS certificate with CDC Card?
 

This is probably very much in the realm of speculation, but does anyone have an opinion of whether the digital vaccination certificate for the COVPASS app that is soon going to be rolled out could also be issued by showing proof of a vaccination performed outside of Germany (with an EU-approved vaccine, of course)? The way I understand the process after reading some articles is that participating pharmacies could initiate and request the issuance of an electronic certificate that could be stored in the app upon being shown proof of vaccination, which for vaccinations having been given in Germany over the past few months would typically be the yellow vaccine booklet.

The scenario I'm wondering about is that as a dual citizen living in the US and having been vaccinated here, I plan to visit family in Germany this summer for the first time since the pandemic started. For immigration and quarantine purposes, it seems the CDC card I have (as well as a state-issued certificate) would be fine to verify my vaccination status so that I would not have to quarantine and generally can do anything a person living in Germany who has tested negative or recovered could do. However, while I expect / hope that any person performing checks at the airport would be familiar with the CDC card, I'm much more doubtful about it being accepted as proof of vaccination (when required) in smaller towns, especially given that right now the only people carrying such cards in Germany would mostly be expats / dual citizens such as myself due to the entry restrictions for non-EU citizens. Being able to obtain a COVPASS digital certificate would certainly seem to make things easier.

If this is indeed possible (i.e. if there isn't a general requirement that the vaccination had to have been performed in Germany, rather than "just" a requirement that the pharmacy needs to be able to verify that the vaccination with a EU-approved vaccines has occurred), I guess it might be best to look for participating pharmacies at airport locations after this begins to roll out next week.

The app appears to be out, but not available in US app stores, just like the Corona Warn App (that also has the digital pass feature):

https://digitaler-impfnachweis-app.de

(there are workarounds to get it installed, and maybe it will get officially released more broadly soon)

I am planning to try to get my CDC or WHO card “converted” into a digital cert soon. I’ll update this thread if no one else reports back with results. I suspect, though, that it will be very much a case of YMMV and depend on the flexibility of the pharmacist you talk to,

If the information (screenshots, FAQ) on

https://digitaler-impfnachweis-app.d...at-ausstellen/

is accurate, the registration system doesn’t ask for any information that our US cards wouldn’t provide. But I still need to look at the documentation in more detail.

Thanks for responding!

Yes, that was my impression after reading through some of these websites and articles, too, but it's clearly an outlier case, so *should work* and *will work* are entirely separate things. If I end up trying during my first trip next weekend, I'll report back, but since it's only a short visit, I may leave this for a second, longer trip in August.

I suspect there won’t be too many pharmacies set up by next weekend (and those that can do it will be overrun):

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-introd....../a-57840431

But if they really get €18 for each certificate, that would be a nice source of revenue (and profit) for them.

So this app will be used for going to bars and restaurants? From what I read, it's for Germans who have been vaccinated and in their system - and that is still in a state of chaos. I'm sure (at least for the short term) that the CDC card I have to bring with me won't be accepted - either for the app or by the venues that require vaccination.

Looks like I may be limited to take-away and delivery at the hotel again.

It depends on the state and/or county, I think. I just checked the rules for the area that I will be visiting soon, and case numbers are low enough that no vaccine passport or recent Covid Test result is required for dining. I believe they still require you to provide your contact info for potential contact tracing. Not sure if the Corona Warn App provides support for that or if it is still all paper-based.

There is talk about using the digital certificate to allow access for concerts, museums, and it is also supposed to be usable for EU travel.

We’ll probably start to see “reports from the field” soon. I am planning to run experiments with my CDC card, but I also today got my Covid shots recorded in my US yellow vaccine passport. With a real stamp from the county health department ;)

The app/QR code just supplements the paper/digital test/vaccination records. No one will deny you service because you don't have the code, so time to take a chill pill.

Ok, my first attempt at getting a digital vaccination certificate was successful. I gave the pharmacist my WHO immunization card (*) and my CDC card and walked out with my two QR codes.

I was surprised that I actually got two certificates, one for each shot with different QR codes. But the Covid Warn app happily accepted both. Now I need to find a place where I can actually use it. Will they want to scan both QR code’s, or just the one for shot #2?

You can search for pharmacies in Germany that issue the digital certificate using this website:

https://www.mein-apothekenmanager.de

(*) I had my shots added to my yellow vaccine passport at my local county health department.

Interesting under What Rules Apply for Fully Vaccinated People they want

5 The name and address of the person or institution responsible for vaccinating the person

6 Confirmation in written or electronic form with the qualified electronic signature or qualified electronic seal of the person who carried out the vaccination; if for administrative reasons this is not possible, a suitable format such as a stamp or state symbols should be used to clearly identify the responsible person or institution There’s no space on the little CDC card for this information. Who issued the shot, yes. Their address, not so much. And #6, yeah how’s that happen. https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/f...ed-people.html

I wouldn’t worry about it.

I downloaded the Swiss government’s digital vaccine pass check app (the German app isn’t in the US app stores). It considers my QR codes invalid due to the signature not being recognized (it does show my name and DOB). So much for interoperability, unless it is really a problem with my digital pass. Will have to find someone with a German App Store account to try the German verification app.

Yes you need both certificates! One for shot 1 and the second for shot 2. You need as many certificates as shots are need to get the full immunization. The only vaccine that needs only one shot is Johnson&Johnson. If you got Johnson&Johnson you would get only one certificate.

IMHO you where successful because you used the international yellow vaccination booklet. This is an official document which is used for decades. Most people forget that this booklet is also used to show you yellow fever vaccination which is still mandatory in some countries! So most pharmacists, doctors and even border control agents are quite familiar with this document.

About interoperability. The system is still rolled out and it will take until end of June to be fully operational (especially connecting non EU-countries like Switzerland which has their own system).

Might be useful:

https://www.army.mil/article/247734/...ate_in_germany

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...68256dbe2b.jpg

That would explain why a CDC card is no problem :)

Double check the documents once you have them. My two certificates are not correct as on one they inverted my name and surname. Thus they do not match between each other and the apps do not recognize both.

Very helpful information. Thanks for posting this.