In a statement, it said entry into member states was allowed in principle to anybody fully vaccinated with an EU approved vaccine, “including those produced in facilities not covered by marketing authorisation in the EU”.

“Member states can also allow entry for people vaccinated with vaccines that have not yet been authorised in the EU but have completed the WHO emergency use listing process. There is no obstacle or hurdle.”

It was recently reported that the EU digital covid certificate only recognises European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved vaccines for free travel within the bloc, and that it does not cover AstraZeneca doses made by South Korea’s SK Bioscience or Thailand’s Siam Bioscience, both of which had supplied the vaccine to Malaysia.

Currently, the EMA has only approved AstraZeneca vaccine manufacturing sites in the EU, the United States, the United Kingdom and China.

In addition, DEUM said the EU digital covid certificate had been designed to facilitate travel in the bloc as proof that a citizen or resident had been vaccinated, tested negative or had recovered from the virus.

“The certificate is not a pre-requisite for travelling in the EU or a compulsory document, but simply a practical tool,” it clarified.

Member states were free to accept vaccination documentation from third-party countries, the statement said, so long as it included the traveller’s name, the type of vaccine administered and the date of the jab.

“The launch of the EU digital covid certificate now makes possible the formal equivalence of Covid-19 certificates between Malaysia and the EU. This possibility will be explored with the competent Malaysian authorities in days to come.”

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