German and Swiss restaurants refuse to accept CDC cards as proof of vaccination

by philg

I was chatting with a pilot friend who returned to his native Germany recently and reported that he’d been unable to get into restaurants. “They refused to accept my CDC card as proof of vaccination,” he said, “because they said it was too easy to forge one.”

I mentioned this at a pilot gathering in Palm Beach and one of the guys at my table said, “the same thing happened to me in Switzerland. Nobody would accept the CDC card.”

What papers do you need to show? “It’s called a European vaccine certificate,” my German friend explained. “You get this from a pharmacist [QR code with some text] then load in app or if you are old show on paper. It’s tied to a Europe-wide database and issued by the local CDC equivalent. It can only be put into the database by authorized pharmacists and some other designated officials, but not doctors.”

So enjoy your trip to Europe, but if you got vaccinated in the U.S., don’t plan to be indoors at museums, restaurants, etc.

14 thoughts on “German and Swiss restaurants refuse to accept CDC cards as proof of vaccination”

  2. Ugh, I’m heading to Germany shortly for work. So is there any way for an American to get a European vaccine certificate?

    • My daughter just did this in Spain. Once she arrived, she made an appointment at a pharmacy and was able to get a certificate. She had her CDC Card, and digital proof with a barcode, and a negative test. I suppose you could try to get a pharmacy appointment before you arrive.

    • Forging a European Digital COVID Certificate is also straightforward given that almost no-one every scans the QR code. Just put any QR code and it should work.

  4. This is inconsistent with my own experience. I have been in Germany, and Switzerland (plus northern Italy, Austria, and Liechtenstein) three times this summer and fall, for a total of seven weeks. Not once had I problems with the CDC card or a cellphone picture thereof, as proof of vaccination. That includes a wide span of venues ranging from immigration authorities, major cultural events such as the Bregenz Festival, down to neighborhood restaurants.
    In all countries, venues consistently were strict about registration for contact tracing (Luca app in Germany; other countries have their own system).

  5. When I first saw my CDC card I knew this was going to be a problem. What I’d like to know is: “Who got the printing contract?” because they were produced by the tens of millions, all identical from what I can tell, and all printed on the same 80 or 100 lb matte cover stock. Even without the QR code, it would have been simple to issue some old dot-matrix or inkjet printer, feed the preprinted cards in them when a patient was vaccinated, and then print the QR code and another barcode on the card, which was tied to a system-wide database with a GUID.

    That’s like 10 seconds of thinking. I wonder how much the CDC spent printing them up?

    • BTW where I was vaccinated, they had extensive tech. “wizardry” on display, at least 8 PCs all tied to the LAN with laser printers. Instead of doing the obvious thing and vaccinating someone then printing the card with the GUID and the QR code and so forth and handing it to then on their way out the door, you got the card in advance, and then it was handwriting and hand-affixed stickers with little shamrocks and leprechauns on them. Given the level of technological prowess on display at this converted National Guard armory, I couldn’t believe I was being handed a handwritten piece of card stock as “proof” that I had been jabbed. It wouldn’t even pass muster as a receipt at Walmart!

  6. At a US airport, you are required to show a negative Covidfear test report to get your boarding pass.

    A friend of a friend who travels to Turkey at least 2 times a year, got his negative Covidfear test report last year from MyQuest lab as a PDF file. He has been using the same PDF file, over and over since last year by altering the date on it to reflect the day of his travel. Print it and take it with you to the airport and you are all set!

    Where there is a will there’s a way.

  8. Nothing a well-placed Molotov won’t fix. A few establishments doing the fascist thing going up in smoke will teach others not to collaborate. Pity that unlike the BLM bros Europeans are cucks.

  9. Getting the Swiss COVID certificate based on my US vaccination records was no problem. You can also get quick tests very easily all over the place and those will give you a 3 day certificate… e.g. test tent right outside the SPA so test and then enter. Went to an event sponsored by a big bank at the Zurich film festival… same deal: The invitation told you to allow extra time for testing if you were not vaccinated.

    This stuff isn’t that hard unless people are idiots about it.

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