HOLIDAYMAKERS could face new testing and quarantine restrictions unless they accept Covid booster jags, under plans reportedly being drawn up by UK ministers.
The move would alter the definition of "fully vaccinated" from having two doses to three, according to the Mail on Sunday.
The Scottish Government can set its own rules for travel quarantine and testing, but has tended to mirror the UK government approach.
The new regime would reportedly reimpose quarantine and testing for those who have refused a booster vaccination.
READ MORE: If Covid cases are flatlining, why are case rates rising among the fully vaccinated?
Officials are said to be divided over how soon to implement the measure and are discussing a grace period that would allow people to travel without quarantine if they had sought a booster six months after their second jag but had not yet been offered an appointment.
Double-vaccinated travellers would not be able to get round the requirement by providing a negative Covid-19 test instead.
A Government source told the Mail on Sunday: "This is not going to happen immediately – but happen it will."
The plan could prove controversial as boosters are not being offered universally as they are in other countries, such as Israel, which is offering boosters to everyone aged 12 and over.
Current travel rules mean that people who are not fully vaccinated have to self-isolate at home for 10 days on returning to the UK and pay for four PCR tests - two before departure and two once they have returned to the UK.
Fully-vaccinated travellers are exempt from self-isolation and can use cheaper lateral flow tests.
In the UK, only those over 50, frontline health and social care workers, and adults with underlying health conditions are eligible for booster vaccinations.
READ MORE: From Scotland's worst-hit neighbourhood to the truth about comparisons between flu deaths and Covid
Severely immunosuppressed individuals are also being offered a third 'primary' dose - with boosters to follow six months on from this top-up inoculation.
Currently, around 25 to 30 per cent of adults over 70 in Scotland are still waiting for booster doses, with the majority of those in their 50s not expected to become eligible until mid-November based on current JCVI timetables which stipulate that a booster must not be administered any sooner than six months on from a person's second vaccination.
During October, Covid infections per 100,000 have been rising among fully vaccinated Scots amid concerns about waning immunity, with protection declining more sharply in relation to the AstraZeneca vaccine given to most over-40s than the Pfizer vaccine given to most younger adults.
By the end of October, the infection rate had narrowed to 33 per 100,000 among the unvaccinated to and 30 per 100,000 in the fully vaccinated.
A report by Public Health Scotland last week noted that analyses by the UK Health Security Agency "show vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease with the Delta variant" to be approximately 65 to 70% with AstraZeneca and 80 to 95% with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
It added: "A recent English study has observed in the weeks following vaccination, that effectiveness is waning against infection for all vaccine types, between 45 to 50% effectiveness with AstraZeneca and 68 to 71% effectiveness with Pfizer-BioNTech."
Protection against hospitalisation appears to remain high up until at least six months, and the current data for Scotland still shows that the hospitalisation rate for Covid is 2.3 times higher among the unvaccinated compared to the fully vaccinated.
Nonetheless, around 80% of all hospital admissions for Covid in the most recent week for which age breakdown data is available were 65-plus.
Meanwhile, Pfizer - which has been granted approval by US regulators for its vaccine to be given to children aged five to 11 - has now submitted an application to the European Medicines Agency.
In the UK, it would be up to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to approve vaccinations for under-12s.
A Pfizer spokesman said: "We will submit the 5- to 11-year-old data package for consideration at the appropriate time."
UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "Almost 10 million people in the UK have received their Covid-19 booster and third jabs.
"We know immunity begins to wane after six months, especially for the elderly and the vulnerable, and booster vaccines will top up their protection to keep people safe over the winter.
"For those not yet eligible, please help your parents, grandparents or vulnerable loved ones get their jabs – it could save their lives."
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