EXPLAINED: How visitors to France can get a French health pass at pharmacies

Getting a medical professional to exchange your vaccination certificate for a French one is currently the only way people vaccinated in the United States, Canada and many other non-EU countries are able to access the French health pass without taking a Covid test every two days, or without proof they have already had the virus.

But The Local reported yesterday that people vaccinated in the US had been having trouble finding a pharmacy willing or able to do this, with some readers visiting up to ten pharmacies to no avail.

Readers from the UK also reported difficulties convincing venue staff to accept their NHS certificates, so getting a French health pass and QR code at a pharmacy could be a safer option for Brits who have the possibility.

READ ALSO ‘I’ve been to 8 pharmacies’: Visitors to France report struggles with Covid health passes

Journalist John Walton, who lives in the Loire in central France, tweeted a step-by-step guide on Tuesday to how he was able to help his British partner to obtain a French certificate.

First, find a medical professional — usually a doctor or pharmacy.

Crucially, they MUST have access to the « Vaccin COVID » system from the « assurance maladie » national health system.

Locally, two pharmacies didn’t have access, but a larger one in the local town of 30k did.

— John Walton (@thatjohn) August 3, 2021

Walton suggested larger pharmacies would be more likely to have access to the necessary computer system, something other readers have also reported. Walton recommended finding a pharmacy listed as a vaccination centre on the Vite Ma Dose platform, as well as bringing a bilingual friend to help explain the process to the pharmacists.

Note that there is a website for the « Vaccin COVID » system, with helplines for doctors, pharmacists and staff — in case you find one willing to help but run into issues:https://t.co/d68OTp43GH

— John Walton 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 (@thatjohn) August 3, 2021

The larger pharmacy I called had digitally literate and helpful staff but still needed us to come behind the screen to the back office to help with the translation and figuring out what to put in the system.

Bring a bilingual friend with you if your French isn't great.

— John Walton 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 (@thatjohn) August 3, 2021

Walton began by explaining the different information you will need to provide, including an email address and a French address and phone number. Some of our American readers have told us pharmacies accepted their Airbnb or hotel address.

READ ALSO Can tourists use France’s health passport to access museums, cafés and trains?

STEP 1: enter the vaccinated person's personal details, including:

• email
• French phone number
• French street address

I don’t think you’d need to give anything more than those of the hotel where you are staying if you don’t have a French resident’s phone/address to give.

— John Walton 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 (@thatjohn) August 3, 2021

Next, the pharmacist will have to enter the details of your jab (vaccine type and batch number), and Walton warned readers that the "autre lot" option must be selected in order to enter a foreign batch number.

STEP 2:

• enter the first (and second if not J&J) vaccine type and « numéro de lot » (batch number)

NOTE: the system tries to auto-validate this against batches distributed France, so they MUST enter « autre lot » in this field and then the number in the new box that appears!

— John Walton 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 (@thatjohn) August 3, 2021

Next, Walton explained, you will need to enter the place where you were vaccinated (using the post code 99 to find foreign locations), and your date of vaccination.

STEP 3:

• enter the « lieu de vaccination » (place of vaccination).

Here, instead of a French postal code, they enter « 99 » and then scroll down a long list of codes starting with 99 to find your country code (99150 was the UK, I think).

— John Walton 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 (@thatjohn) August 3, 2021

STEP 4:

• enter the « date de vaccination » (date of vaccination, oh yes)

NOTE: this field will prefill with TODAY'S date, so do make sure they click back to the actual date or you will have to wait however many days your vaccine needs to count as "done".

— John Walton 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 (@thatjohn) August 3, 2021

STEP 5:

• print the EU Digital COVID Certificate version
• scan the QR code with the @TousAntiCovid app
• « bon appetit ! » pic.twitter.com/Ehx0EuH3KG

— John Walton 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 (@thatjohn) August 3, 2021

In theory, people vaccinated in the UK should not need to go through this process, but not all of those working in venues requiring the health pass are aware that NHS certificates and the NHS app are valid in France.

It is now possible to upload an NHS vaccine certificate to the French health pass app. However, the QR codes generated are not currently compatible with the TousAntiCovid Verif app used by venues to check health passes.

Meanwhile, with no official instructions from the French government, the American Embassy in Paris stated on July 21st: "At this time, the Embassy is not aware of the extent to which it is still possible to have the U.S. information entered into the French system."

The French health pass, available on paper or through the TousAntiCovid app, is currently required for culture and leisure venues of more than 50 people, including cinemas, museums and other tourist sites. From August 9th, it is set to be extended to bars, cafés, restaurants, and long-distance train and bus travel.