Scrutable

Every time I try to renew my Covid vaccine passport it gives me one that expires a few days later. Why is this? The previous one expired today so I went online to get a new one and it only lasts until November 4. I do it on my laptop.

I think this is a tech problem rather than a Covid issue which is why I'm posting it here.

Done it a couple of times since September and it's always given me about 30 days

Tessa K wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 11:58 am Every time I try to renew my Covid vaccine passport it gives me one that expires a few days later. Why is this? The previous one expired today so I went online to get a new one and it only lasts until November 4. I do it on my laptop.

I think this is a tech problem rather than a Covid issue which is why I'm posting it here.

I'm bored so I did a bit of Googling. It seems you're not alone but there are few if any answers. The only one I did find was someone who said they only got 2 days when they did it on pc/laptop but got the full 30 when they went through the app. So are you able to use the app as that seems to be the solution.

Why would a vaccine passport expire?

Surely it just needs a date of last vaccination on it, so that if boosters become required they can be dealt with.

dyqik wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:05 pm Why would a vaccine passport expire?

Surely it just needs a date of last vaccination on it, so that if boosters become required they can be dealt with.

It's the QR code that expires apparently. Not sure why but perhaps there's a good reason. If you use the app, the expiry automagically updates every time you access the pass but the same apparently isn't true for accessing via browser for some reason - you need to actively refresh it somehow. But I don't understand why that would mean you only get a few days when you do so - that seems to be a problem that no-one has been given an answer to despite a number of people asking about it.

Oh, apparently if you get a Covid pass based on a negative PCR (edit: or Lateral Flow) test, that is supposed to only last 48 hours (makes sense) so maybe there's a glitch somewhere that is wrongly applying that expiry to a vaccine-based pass.

dyqik wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:05 pm Why would a vaccine passport expire?

Surely it just needs a date of last vaccination on it, so that if boosters become required they can be dealt with.

The EU one lasts a year before it needs renewing (which may or may not require a booster). These short term passports sound like another of those Brexit benefits.

I don't know if expiry is built in to the EU DCC ("Green Pass") itself rather than the app which reads it and tells you if it's currently valid or not. Originally it was considered to last 9 months after the final dose but now it's 12 months. This change in rules didn't require me to get a new QR code or anything.

I asked the doctor when I went for my booster today and they didn't know either. They said it should be 30 days.

Tessa K wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 2:49 pm I asked the doctor when I went for my booster today and they didn't know either. They said it should be 30 days.

Yes, it definitely should be. There must be some glitch in the website and others are reporting similar, but no-one seems to be picking up on the problem and responding to those having issues or trying to fix it.

shpalman wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:44 pm I don't know if expiry is built in to the EU DCC ("Green Pass") itself rather than the app which reads it and tells you if it's currently valid or not. Originally it was considered to last 9 months after the final dose but now it's 12 months. This change in rules didn't require me to get a new QR code or anything.

THe last time I had a PCR test here (Italy) I got a new sms notification to access a green pass, which was just a 72h one, to cover the period of the validity of the PCR. THis is presumably to enable those who are too "educated"'free" etcetc to actually get a vaccine to go into a bar or eat a pizza.

I got a separate sms notification to update the 9-month to a 12-month, I use a paper copy and certainly cba to squint at the checked square to see if is the same as before.

Lydia Gwilt wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 4:30 pm

shpalman wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:44 pm I don't know if expiry is built in to the EU DCC ("Green Pass") itself rather than the app which reads it and tells you if it's currently valid or not. Originally it was considered to last 9 months after the final dose but now it's 12 months. This change in rules didn't require me to get a new QR code or anything.

THe last time I had a PCR test here (Italy) I got a new sms notification to access a green pass, which was just a 72h one, to cover the period of the validity of the PCR. THis is presumably to enable those who are too "educated"'free" etcetc to actually get a vaccine to go into a bar or eat a pizza.

I got a separate sms notification to update the 9-month to a 12-month, I use a paper copy and certainly cba to squint at the checked square to see if is the same as before.

I never actually got an sms about my vaccination-based Green Pass, but it showed up in IO and I downloaded the pdf from https://www.dgc.gov.it/web/

Actually I still have the original version I downloaded in June (which says 9 months / 270 days) and the more recent version I downloaded a couple of weeks ago (which says 12 months) when I was panicking just before Swing'n'Milan about my pass not being valid (but it was actually just a problem with my installation of the VerificaC19 app) and I can easily see by flipping between the two pdfs that the QR codes are identical.

The QR code itself doesn't change or expire, because I'll always have had those vaccinations on those dates. Depending on the date on which the code is read (i.e. whether it's 9 12 months after the second dose)* it will either be a valid Green Pass or not.

(Similarly, the QR code you got from the PCR test doesn't expire as such, because it's a record of a negative test you had, it's just that it stops being valid as a Green Pass.)

At some point a decision will need to be made about whether to extend the validity of a two*-dose pass, let it expire such that everyone needs a third* dose, or not require Green Passes anymore since we're all either immune or dead anyway.

Mine is definitely 30 days (on my phone) from the last access. Just looked and it's end of December and it was mid-December when I installed the app.