Don’t Forget to Translate Your Vaccination Certificates!

Last Updated On: June 17, 2021 by The Migration Translators

Vaccinations are in the news again because of the desperate race to find an effective vaccine for Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, or Sars-cov-2. In reality, new vaccines are always quietly being researched and sought after. It’s not an easy task. There is still no effective vaccine for ebola, HIV (that causes AIDS), the common cold, and several other diseases including malaria. Vaccines for virus-caused diseases are generally harder to develop, especially if they mutate frequently. A vaccine for SARS and MERS, both caused by coronaviruses, was never developed before the diseases rather mysteriously disappeared.

Vaccines have been more successfully found for a variety of other diseases that have been killers in the past. There are vaccines for measles, mumps, cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, TB, typhoid, and rabies, just to mention some of the more common. Smallpox is one of the world’s greatest health victories as the virus was totally eradicated after a long, hard struggle led by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Proof of vaccination may soon become mandatory after Covid-19

Although international travel right at the moment is virtually impossible anywhere in the world, when the world returns to normal again in one, two, or more years’ time, proof of vaccination will again become mandatory. Entry into many countries for anything other than a short visit has often meant proving that you were healthy and vaccinated against common diseases. Visits to Africa or South America, where there is still the possibility of contracting yellow fever, usually means that you have a yellow fever vaccination in your home country before travel, translated, of course into several languages depending on where you go next.

You will need vaccine certificate translation

Vaccination certificate translation is a must for many immigration visas. The U.S., for example, insists that all long-term visa applicants show evidence of vaccination for things like TB, typhoid, measles, and mumps. Evidence of cholera vaccination may be essential if you have visited a country, or part of a country, where there has been a cholera outbreak.

When a Covid-19 vaccine is eventually developed, and there is a lot of doubt over how long that is going to take, it may become compulsory to show that you have been vaccinated for Covid-19 before being allowed to travel, or at least before you arrive. One of the possible ways that international travel may become possible again is to have an “immunity passport.” This would show that either you have had Covid-19 and have immunity, as proved by an internationally approved test, or have been vaccinated for the disease, so you cannot spread it when you visit another country. 

Of course, this is still way in the future and who knows what is going to happen in the next few months, or even the next year or two, but the possibility of relaxing international travel between countries that have successfully suppressed or eliminated the virus maybe soon a reality. Australians or New Zealanders, for example, may soon have access to each others’ countries. That may be extended to the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia. Even without a vaccine, there may be a way forward using health certificates showing proof of immunity or lack of infection through an up-to-date test. Because of the danger that border control officers cannot interpret certificates that are not in their own language, there will be an ongoing need for effective health certificate translation.