[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The implementation date for the validity period of vaccination certificates (vaccine passes), originally scheduled for the 20th of this month, has been adjusted to the 3rd of next month. A one-week grace period will be set after the implementation.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced on the 16th that the application date for the validity period of vaccination certificates will be adjusted to the 1st of next month.

The headquarters has stated its policy to set a validity period for vaccination certificates to encourage the third dose due to the waning effect of vaccine efficacy over time after vaccination.

Accordingly, the vaccination certificate will be effective from 14 days after the second dose (one dose for Janssen) and valid up to 6 months (180 days) after the second dose. If the third dose is received within this period or after the validity period expires, the certificate will regain validity without an expiration period.

Initially, the headquarters planned to apply the validity period for vaccination certificates starting from the 20th to prepare for increased private gatherings during Christmas and the year-end and New Year holidays. However, due to strengthened social distancing measures on that day and the designation of this month as a concentrated period for the third dose, the setting of the validity period has been postponed by two weeks to the 3rd of next month to provide sufficient vaccination opportunities.

Furthermore, even after the implementation on the 3rd of next month, a one-week grace period will be operated until the 9th. Therefore, during this period, users and business owners will not be subject to separate fines even if they use expired vaccine passes to access multi-use facilities where vaccine passes are mandatory.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.