A SECOND pensioner vaccinated against Covid through his GP surgery says he has been unable to obtain a status certificate.
The 83-year-old from Strathbungo in Glasgow, who asked only to be identified as Chris, had hoped to visit his home in the south of France in August but was baffled to discover there is no record of him on the NHS database.
The UK is on France’s amber list, meaning that travellers who are not fully vaccinated are banned from entry except for “essential” reasons and must self-isolate for seven days on arrival.
READ MORE: Travel frustration for double vaccinated Ayrshire man told there is 'no record' of his jags
His wife, who is 72 and received both jags at the NHS Louisa Jordan mass vaccination centre, has been able to download and print off a copy of her vaccination status certificate from the NHS Inform website.
The couple purchased a holiday property in January 2020, but since then have been able to visit it only once - for two weeks last summer - despite extensive refurbishments being carried out.
“We’ve never seen the work that’s been done on the house,” said Chris. “We need to go out there and see what’s going on.”
It comes after the Herald reported on the case of 74-year-old Ayrshire engineer, Douglas Smith, who is due to fly to Greece later this month but was told there was no trace of his vaccinations on the system, both of which were carried out at his GP practice.
Following the Herald’s coverage of his case on Monday, Mr Smith said his record “magically appeared” on the database.
Chris, a retired senior social work manager, said: “I’m told all this has to do with the personal numbers. I don’t have one and if I don’t have one I can’t be registered, and if I can’t be registered I can’t get the status certificate.”
Patients who were invited by letter to community mass vaccination hubs were given a ‘unique username’ enabling them to manage their appointments online.
People logging onto NHS Inform to apply for a vaccination status certificate are asked for this reference code, but thousands do not have one.
READ MORE: Cases continued rising despite 85% of Scots adults having Covid antibodies by mid-June
This includes those vaccinated by their GP surgeries - mainly elderly people or those with underlying health conditions - but also some healthcare staff vaccinated through their workplaces.
Chris, a resident in Nicola Sturgeon’s Glasgow Southside constituency, said he has been calling the Covid Status helpline weekly since the certification scheme launched in mid-May but they have been unable to resolve the problem, with one call handler telling him they were receiving “lots of” similar enquiries.
He said: “It’s not just me and Mr Smith - I think it’s more widespread. The numbers of people who are potentially affected by this must be very great but of course, they won’t find out until they try to get it [certificate] and by then it’s too late.
“The people on the helpline are very nice, and I waited ages to speak to them, but they are just no help. It’s not their fault, they just don’t know what to do.”
The Herald understands that when vaccinations were carried out in GP surgeries, the patients’ details should have been logged in the GP information system first and then uploaded onto the TURAS central database.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said people vaccinated through GP surgeries “can still register online to receive their vaccine certificate if required for international travel”.
READ MORE: Test and Protect no longer meeting World Health Organisation targets
However, Chris said he had tried already this without success.
The Scottish Government said requests to update vaccinations records can be made via or the Covid Status helpline on 0808 196 8565.
The spokeswoman added: “We are aware that some boards are experiencing increased requests to update vaccination records and people can do this via the helpline.
“We continue to work towards replacing the record of vaccination status with digital Covid Status Certificates, which will include vaccination and testing data to be used for outbound international travel.”
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