Travelers head to departure gates at Denver International Airport in Colorado. Americans will be allowed into Germany for tourism or to visit friends and family starting Sunday, June 20, 2021, the Interior Ministry says. (Karin Zeitvogel/Stars and Stripes)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Fully vaccinated Americans will be allowed to travel to Germany starting Sunday to visit friends, family and tourist destinations, the German Interior Ministry said Friday.
“In view of falling infections in several (non-EU) countries, the federal government will allow entry for all purposes including tourism," the Interior Ministry said on its website.
Travelers from the U.S. or any of the other seven countries, regions and territories allowed into Germany again must have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus at least 14 days before arrival, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Alina Vick told Stars and Stripes.
The vaccine must be one that has been authorized for use by Germany's medical regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute — either the Moderna, Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines, all of which require two shots, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Germany also considers a person to be fully vaccinated if they have had one dose of the Astrazeneca shot, followed by either the Pfizer or Moderna shot, the Paul Ehrlich Institute says on its website.
Vick said fully vaccinated travelers from the U.S. still have to provide a negative PCR or antigen test and fill in an online registration form, but Americans who entered Germany in recent weeks have said they were only asked for their passport and CDC vaccination certificate.
The new rules take effect at midnight Sunday, Vick said. Travelers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia and Lebanon are also covered by the rule change.
Germany last year closed its borders to all Americans not traveling on official business as coronavirus infections soared in the U.S.
Last week, it dropped the U.S. from a list of countries considered risk areas for the coronavirus, as a mass vaccination campaign that began in January helped drive down the incidence of the virus in the country.
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