Scots travelling abroad will now be able to obtain an official Covid-19 vaccination record.
A status letter can be downloaded from the NHS Inform patient portal or requested in the post via a helpline.
The Scottish Government said only those planning to travel to a country or territory where a record of vaccination status is needed as an entry requirement should download the record or request it.
While there are no countries currently requiring vaccination status to travel, international travel restrictions can change quickly requiring such measures to be in place.
The measures are intended to ease the burden on the NHS by removing the need for people to ask their GP for a status record.
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As Scotland’s vaccination programme progresses, vaccination status will be replaced by digital Covid Status Certificates, which will include vaccination and testing data to be used for outbound international travel.
The Scottish Government is continuing to urge a highly cautious approach to international travel, given the risk of new variants.
The four UK Chief Medical Officers have said that green-list status should be the exception, rather than the rule, with countries added to the list only where there are very good reasons for doing so.
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Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith said: “Given the risk of returning with infection, and especially of introducing new variants of the virus, we continue to be highly cautious about international travel.
"Everyone should continue to limit their travel abroad and while I understand the need for some people who want to reunite with family, when it comes to holidays, my advice continues to be play it safe and staycation this summer.
“For those that do need it, this new service will provide people with a record of their vaccination status for outbound international travel.
“They should only access their record if they are planning to travel within 21 days and it is a requirement of their destination.”
For more information go to www.nhsinform.scot/covid19status.
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