More than 800,000 people waiting for updated Covid certs after receiving booster 

Automatic issuing of the updated certs began on what the health department describes as 'a phased basis' on January 6 via email.

More than 800,000 people who have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine are waiting for their updated EU Digital Covid Certificate (DCC).

While more than 2.5m people have received their booster dose, the Department of Health has said that over 1.7m updated DCCs have been issued to those who have received the booster so far.

There are now growing fears that thousands of Irish people could be prevented from travelling abroad if they do not receive their updated DCCs to prove their vaccination status before February 1.

Under EU rules, Covid certs will become invalid from this date for foreign travel if a person's primary vaccination doses were more than nine months previous.

Automatic issuing of the updated certs began on what the health department describes as “a phased basis” on January 6 via email.

A Department of Health spokesperson said that “all subsequent certificates will be issued in a Business-As-Usual capacity — automatically issued via email within 24 to 48 hours of receiving the booster dose”.

Speaking on the delay that many people are facing, it was stated that “there were a large number of people for which a certificate was generated but there was no email associated with their information”.

“To prompt these people to request their certificate, over 700k texts have been issued by the HSE over the past week to notify these people that their new certificate is ready and can be requested.” 

It was added that “those who have received a booster vaccine from a GP or Pharmacy may experience a time lag between receiving the dose and when the data is uploaded to the HSE system so as to issue the updated certificate”.

One Cork woman who received her booster dose by her GP on December 21 is still waiting.

She told the Irish Examiner that multiple members of her family received their booster dose on the same day at the same clinic and have received their updated certs since.

“I asked my GP about it and they said my cert has been uploaded by them to the HSE website.” 

When she requested her updated certificate online via the Digital Covid Certificate Self Service Portal, she was sent her original certificate reflecting her primary vaccination course only.

A Cork couple who received their boosters from their local pharmacy on December 16 are still waiting to receive their updated digital certs. 

The woman told the Irish Examiner she requested the updated cert via the Digital Covid Certificate Self Service Portal but was sent her original one, which shows the last date of vaccination as July.

The Department of Health told the Irish Examiner that “these data quality issues are currently being resolved”.

“In some limited cases, there may be a delay in a person's record being updated to account for the additional dose and a new certificate may not be ready yet,” a spokesperson stated.

“In these cases, if someone requests an updated certificate via the portal, the most recent certificate will be issued to them which may be their original certificate.” 

Meanwhile, HSE Live have handled over 132,000 calls so far in 2022 and average of just over 8,000 calls per day.

A spokesperson said that “at the moment, the main call drivers are booster vaccinations and queries from parents”.

“Covid-19 queries include testing, close contacts, and general information about public health guidance.” 

The HSE has reported 6.7m visits to their Covid-19 and vaccination information on the HSE website and have responded to just over 16,000 queries on Twitter so far this year.