Certifications and documents before getting vaccinated
- When you go to your vaccination, you need to take a document to prove your identity with (Passport or ID-card), when you’re a parent or a guardian of a child, who gets their vaccination, both of you need ID-s, you and the child. In case you have the Immunization passport on a yellow paper, please take it with you — then all your vaccinations are in one place.
- Foreigners living in Estonia should take a document to prove their identity (passport or an ID-card issued by their home country), and also, if they have it, residence permit or the digital ID of an e-residency, and their immunization passport. In case you’d like to continue your course of vaccination in Estonia, you need a proof of your vaccinations abroad.
EU COVID-19 vaccination certificate
The EU COVID-19 vaccination certificate is a proof that you are vaccinated against COVID-19. It can be used in the EU, but also in other countries around the world. EU COVID-19 vaccination certificate is valid either as a print-out or shown from a digital device.
NB! From the 15th March 2022, COVID-19 certificate is not checked in Estonia. You might need it, when travelling. Check all the restrictions of all of your destination countries before travelling!
The validity of the vaccination certificate
- From the 1st of February 2022, the COVID-19 vaccination certificate is valid for 270 days (9 months) for cross-border travelling in the EU.
- Currently, the certificate for booster vaccination does not have a validity period. The certificate is valid indefinitely, regardless of the number of booster doses administred.
- From the 7. April, the duration of vaccination certificates for fully vaccinated minors, for cross-border travelling, is undated. If after the vaccination, a person turns 18, their vaccination certificate is valid for 270 days counted from the last vaccination.
NB! Each EU membership country has a right to decide the duration of the vaccination certificates domestically. Check the rules in your transit and destination country before travelling.
When is the certificate issued?
Certification issued after the initial vaccination course is not valid immediately after the vaccination, but from the moment the maximum protection is achieved. Based on the data given by the vaccine producer, the maximum protection is achieved:
- 7 days after the second dose of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Comirnaty,
- 14 days after the second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, Vaxzevria,
- 14 days after the second dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine,
- 14 days after the dose of Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, Jcovden.
- 7 days after the second dose of Novavax’s vaccine, Nuvaxovid.
The certificate is valid immediately after getting your booster dose. NB! After getting your booster dose, and updating your certificate, you can start using it immediately.
Who can use the vaccination certificate?
To be able to create the vaccination certificate, you need to have Estonian Personal ID code, and be vaccinated in Estonia.
Estonians and foreigners with the Estonian personal identification code, who can’t create EU digital COVID-certificates via the patient’s portal, can apply for this using Social Insurance Board (SIB) services all over Estonia. After you’ve applied in the local SIB office, the digital EU COVID-certificate will be sent to your email address within three working days. More info can be found tehik.ee.
In case you were vaccinated abroad, and you don’t have the Estonian personal ID-code, you can use your immunization passport instead of the EU COVID-certificate.
How to create your vaccination certificate?
You can create yourself a vaccination certificate if you have the Estonian personal ID-code, and you’ve been vaccinated in Estonia. In order to do that, please youse your ID-card, mobile-ID or Smart-ID to log in to the patient’s portal in digilugu.ee, then create your certificate and print it out.
You can use your vaccination certificate digitally as well, by showing it from your smart device.
- Log in to the Patient’s Portal, digilugu.ee.
- If you see a notification that your vaccination certificate is not valid, click the button: Start the creation of an EU digital COVID-19 certificate
- Click on a drop menu, and choose EU digital vaccination certificate, and click Continue.
- Choose Save or Print to have your certificate.
- The old certificate will be deleted automatically when you create a new one.
When do I need to update my vaccination certificate?
- Currently, the certificate for booster vaccination does not have a validity period. The certificate is valid indefinitely, regardless of the number of booster doses administred.
- If you created their certificate before the 21st of October, and haven’t updated it yet. These certificates were valid only for 6 months (180 days). Updating their certificate is essential to travel abroad.
- If your first vaccination course included only 1 dose of a vaccine (they recovered and had only 1 dose, or the vaccination course included only 1 dose), and had a booster dose. Instead of a current 2/2 certificate, they can create a certificate with the 2/1 marks, and that shows their vaccination course included only 1 dose, and the second dose was a booster dose.
If your certificate needs to be updated, this will be shown via control system kontroll.digilugu.ee and in a Patient’s Portal digilugu.ee if you log in. Also, people whose certificate needs to be updated, will be notified with an email – one 30 days in advance, and the second 2 days before the duration of the certificate ends. In order to get these emails, your eesti.ee email address should be directed to your personal email address.
Watch the video (in Estonian, with Russian subtitles), how to create a new certificate in a Patient’s Portal.
Immunization passport
An immunization passport, also called as a yellow vaccination passport, is issued by a medical health care worker who vaccinates you, for example your family doctor. This document is available only on paper format, and you should carry it with you when you go to any vaccination after you’ve had the immunization passport. NB! Only a person who vaccinates, can add data to your immunization passport about your vaccinations.
Who is the immunization passport for?
Immunization passport is for everybody who can’t or don’t want to prove their data via digilugu.ee, and prefer their data on paper. Also, immunization passport is for Estonians who were vaccinated abroad, but need to prove their vaccination status in Estonia until their data is automatically transferred to digilugu.ee
NB! In most cases, immunization passport is not a valid proof of the vaccination when travelling!
How to get an immunization passport?
Ask for an immunization passport from your family doctor or the medical health care worker, who vaccinates you. Make sure you have your ID and proof of your vaccination with you.
EU COVID-19 Recovery Certificate
The EU digital COVID-19 recovery certificate is a proof of your recovery from COVID-19. The certificate is issued after a positive Sars-Cov-2 PCR or the antigen test taken in Estonia by the professional health care service provider.
Based on the current restrictions, EU COVID-19 recovery certificate can be used to participate in organized activities or events.
NB! From the 15th March 2022, COVID-19 certificate is not checked in Estonia.
EL COVID-19 recovery certificate can be created in Estonian patient-portal www.digilugu.ee on the 11th day after the first positive Sars-Cov-2 PCR test or the antigen test. Timing is relevant, if your test result is issued at 5PM, the certificate can be created on the 11th day since 5PM. EU COVID-19 recovery certificate is valid for 180 days from the result date of the PCR or antigen test.
If your first vaccination course included only 1 dose of a vaccine (they recovered and had only 1 dose, or the vaccination course included only 1 dose), and had a booster dose. Instead of a current 2/2 certificate, they can create a certificate with the 2/1 marks, and that shows their vaccination course included only 1 dose, and the second dose was a booster dose. This marking is seen as a booster dose in the checking app, and this is essential for travelling.
From the12th of April, people can create the proof of recovery in a Patient’s Portal based on the last recovery, if the time gap between two positive PCR tests is at least 60 days. Until now, it wasn’t possible to create a new proof of recovery if at least 180 days hadn’t past from the previous case.
The certificate is in Estonian, English and Russian language, and it includes:
- Your name and personal ID-code
- The number of the certificate
- Illness tested for
- The date of the first positive test
- The country you were tested positive
- Validity Date
- The Issuer of the Certificate
Checking your certificate
You can download the certificate to your smartphone or carry the printed version. Use kontroll.digilugu.ee to check whether your digital EU COVID-19 certificate is valid.
Always carry your ID with you to prove that the presented data is valid.
