[Updated 25 September]
As COVID-19 vaccination rollouts continue to make progress across the world, more and more countries have reopened their borders for tourism like Switzerland, Netherlands and Thailand. If you've been fully vaccinated, congratulations! You're one step closer to getting a chance to travel, but the question now is: Where can you travel to based on your brand of jab?
VisaGuide.World has developed a tool called the Covid Vaccine Checker that allows you to find out whether the vaccine you've been vaccinated with is approved for travel in your destination country. All you need to do is: 1) Select the type of vaccine you took; 2) Select the country you want to visit.
Disclaimer: This vaccine checker is not designed as a definitive means to confirm whether you can travel to your specified country. To be 100% certain you must contact the relevant authorities. Do note that it also does not necessarily inform if your destination country has reopened their borders for vaccinated travellers. Make sure to check for such information with the official authorities of your intended country.
In the meantime, check out some of the major COVID-19 vaccines that are currently approved for emergency and full use in most countries below. This is not an exhaustive list of vaccines that are available as most of them aren't recognised worldwide yet. You can get the latest update on approved vaccines (by at least one country) here.
Sinovac
- The Sinovac vaccine, also kown as CoronaVac, is an inactivated vaccine developed by Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company, Sinovac Biotech.
- Apart from China, the countries using Sinovac include Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey.
- The Sinovac vaccine is accepted in 33 countries.
Oxford/AstraZeneca
- AstraZeneca is a viral vector vaccine that was manufactured in the United Kingdom. With an efficacy between 62% and 90%, you need two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to protect yourself against COVID-19.
- Other countries that have used the vaccine are South Africa, Ukraine, Brazil, and Canada.
- The AstraZeneca vaccine is accepted in 117 countries.
Pfizer/BioNTech
- Pfizer is a vaccine created and developed by one of the world's largest biopharmaceutical companies, Pfizer Inc. and German biotechnology company, BioNTech.
- Countries that currently administer the vaccine include Germany, USA, China, Malaysia and Singapore.
- The Pfizer vaccine is accepted in 90 countries.
Janssen/Johnson & Johnson
- Also known as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Janssen vaccine was created by the Johnson & Johnson company.
- Only 1 dose of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is needed to get long-lasting protection.
- Johnson & Johnson is currently accepted in 52 countries.
Moderna
- Moderna is an mRNA vaccine which requires 2 doses and is one of the four vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
- The Moderna vaccine is accepted in 53 countries.
The road to getting the world fully vaccinated is a long journey ahead, but let's keep our chins up and continue to dream about our next travel adventure. Stay inspired with these reads: