Cyprus’ Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that from October 18 the safe pass will be issued only for fully vaccinated individuals.

According to figures, 81.1% of the adult population has had the 1st dose of he COVID-19 vaccine administered and 78.4% are fully vaccinated and therefore the Ministry has assessed the criteria for a safe pass.

The Ministry said that following checks, approximately 11,000 persons had receive the 1st dose but did not proceed with the 2nd dose of the vaccine, pointing out that scientific data show that the 1st dose does not offer effective protection from the variants of the virus.
It said that it is necessary to change the criteria and therefore following a Cabinet decision, only fully vaccinated people will be able to issue the safe pass (2 doses or one if they had the Janssen vaccine administered).

The Ministry urges all citizens who were given the 1st dose to proceed with the 2nd dose at the walk in centres across the island. People who got Pfizer/BioNTech need to wait 3 weeks for the 2nd dose, people who were administered the Moderna vaccine need to wait 4 weeks and those with AstraZeneca need to wait 8 weeks for the 2nd dose.

Anyone who does not wish to proceed with the 2nd dose, will need to have a negative PCR or rapid test valid for 72 hours in order to be able to issue a Safe pass. A decree will be issued with the new regulations.

No change will be made for those with a covid recovery certificate or with negative PCR or rapid who were not administered the jab.

Source: Parikiaki.com