Kosovo will join the list of countries issuing vaccination passports to those who get the vaccine against COVID-19, which would make the travel process for these persons easier when traveling to countries that ask for such a document.

Such a decision has been confirmed by Kosovo’s Ministry of Health, who emphasized that Kosovo will soon receive 100 thousand vaccines through COVAX, and its citizens will have the vaccination passport after they receive two doses of the vaccine, StudyinPoland ThinkNew reports.

The COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) aims at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. It is conducted by the World Health Organization, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and others, and Kosovo is one of the third-countries benefiting from it.

“According to the plan on immunization against COVID-19, each vaccinated person will be granted a pass or whatever it will be called as a documentation proving that they have taken both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine,” the Ministry of Health pointed out.

Kosovo’s Minister of Health, Armend Zemaj, in this regard, said that the country could return to normality by summer, even though it belongs to the list of European countries in which the vaccination process has not started yet.

Besides Kosovo, other European countries have backed the launching of the vaccination passport, including Albania, Greece, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Sweden, as well as the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

However, the vaccination certificates will not bring any help to Kosovo citizens any time soon, as the Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, said that the full supply of COVAX COVI-19 vaccines most likely will not reach Kosovo’s territory until the second half of the year.

“Kosovo has complied with the necessary procedures; however, due to a high demand, the full COVAX supply most likely will not reach Kosovo before the second half of the year,” he stressed.

Besides the difficulties with the limited supply of Coronavirus vaccines, Kosovo faces another problem which has started in 2012.

Kosovo began its journey to reach an agreement with the European Union on visa liberalization for Kosovo citizens in 2012. Even after the European Commission confirmed on July 18, 2018, that Kosovo had met the two last special visa liberalization requirements, citizens of Kosovo still need a Schengen Visa in order to travel to the countries part of the borderless area.

The issue of visa liberalization for Kosovo citizens has not been included in the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union Council, which started in January 2021 and will hold the Presidency until the end of June 2021.

Among the Western Balkan countries, Kosovo is the only one that has not reached an agreement with the European Union that would help Kosovo citizens to travel to European countries without being required to obtain a visa.

Visa requirements for North Macedonia citizens, Montenegro, and Serbia were lifted on December 19, 2009, permitting these countries’ citizens to stay in Schengen Zone for more than 90 days in any half-year.

As for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, visa requirements were lifted on December 15, 2010.