UK imposes quarantine on ‘mixed vaccinated’ travelers

The UK government has updated its travel rules for England to request people who have been doubly vaccinated but with different brands to self-quarantine upon arrival in the country.

The new rule affects travelers from countries that are on the amber list- basically the whole of Europe as France was recently declassified from ‘amber plus’.

It no longer requires travelers from these countries to quarantine if they are fully vaccinated. Currently, the UK government does not consider people with two different COVID jabs as fully vaccinated.

These rules apply to England as the other nations of the UK are yet to update their travel information.

Mixed vaccination

The practice of mixing COVID 19 vaccines is common across the EU particularly for those who had a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine before guidelines on its use in individual countries changed.

Younger people who already had AstraZeneca for their first dose were advised by health regulators in many countries to take Pfizer or Moderna for their second dose.

This covers tens of thousands of people including German chancellor Angela Merkel and French health minister Olivier Véran.

Changing rules

There is no credible medical evidence that individuals who had two different brands of Covid vaccine are less protected against the virus.

The ‘clarification’ of vaccine rules comes after a similar update saying that people who had received only a single dose of the vaccine after recovering from Covid – a standard practice in France – are also not considered fully vaccinated in the UK.

Arrivals into the UK not considered fully vaccinated must quarantine for 10 days and pay for travel tests on Day 2 and Day 8 after arrival.

Fully vaccinated arrivals do not need to quarantine, but must still pay for the Day 2 test.