Togo's digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate recognised by EU, a first for Africa

This was announced on Wednesday, November 24, 2021 via social media by the country's Minister of Digital Economy, Cina Lawson.

She posted on Twitter as follows: "Today, Togo became the first sub-Saharan African country whose digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate is recognized by the European Union.

"Travelers with a Togolese certificate will be able to validly present it in the EU and vice versa.

"Togo is, therefore, the ONLY African country to be fully integrated to both EU and AU COVID-19 vaccination certificates."

Commenting on the development, the EU ambassador in Togo tweeted: "The EU has just formalized the recognition of the Togolese Covid-19 digital vaccination certificate by its 27 countries. Togo, therefore, becomes the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to obtain this equivalence. Congratulation!"

Even though almost all African countries except Eritrea have started vaccination against COVID-19, most travellers are subjected to Coronavirus tests and in some cases quarantine when they travel to some European countries.

Africa's vaccination was largely kickstarted thanks to the COVAX platform which is an equitable vaccine platform.