A certificate of COVID-19 vaccination is not required upon arrival in all countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, rejecting claims about the international validity of locally developed vaccines.
Some people have said that Taiwanese who have received locally developed vaccines cannot travel to other countries, but the claim is not true, the ministry said in a news release.
The ministry said it has noted that there is “a lot of discussion and confusion” about whether a vaccination certificate is needed upon arrival in other countries, so it has provided a list of the quarantine rules for major destinations Taiwanese travel to.
Countries open to tourists from Taiwan that do not have mandatory quarantine are Belgium, Spain, Finland, Estonia and Mexico, the ministry said.
Some countries require tourists to present a negative COVID-19 test report, a COVID-19 vaccination certificate or a COVID-19 recovery report, without mandatory quarantine, it said.
These countries are Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK and the US, the ministry said.
Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand require arrivals to present a negative test report, a vaccination or recovery report, and still impose mandatory quarantine, it said.
Other countries — Argentina, Australia, Canada, Japan, India, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and Vietnam — ban the entry of foreigners, unless they are on diplomatic missions or have certain emergencies, the ministry said.
Before leaving Taiwan, travelers should check the latest rules announced by their destination country, the ministry said.
During an online news briefing in the morning, the ministry refused to comment on whether domestic vaccine developer United Biomedical Inc (聯亞生技) might breach a contract signed by its US affiliate Vaxxinity with Paraguay to provide 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
The company’s COVID-19 vaccine, UB-612, on Monday failed to obtain emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.
The contract signed in June is a procurement contract, and the ministry does not comment on commercial contracts, Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Director-General Florencia Hsie (謝妙宏) said.
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