Airline tells passengers to show proof of vaccination

The National Main Stories

ALL passengers departing Papua New Guinea must show evidence of full vaccination at check-in, a statement from Air Niugini says.
For passengers who have been vaccinated in PNG, they are required to produce the yellow international vaccination certificate issued by Health Department.
The green domestic vaccination certificate is not sufficient.
The only exceptions are if:

  • THE passenger can provide evidence of a medical exemption in a form acceptable to their destination country and for any countries of transit. This will normally be signed by a medical practitioner; and,
  • CHILDREN under the age of 18 (which is presently the minimum age for vaccinations in PNG) and the child is approved to travel to their destination (and for any countries of transit) unvaccinated.

According to the airline, passengers travelling to or transiting Hong Kong, must provide evidence of location they were vaccinated.
For passengers who have been vaccinated in PNG, this is both the yellow international vaccination certificate and the green domestic vaccination certificate (the yellow certificate includes date of birth or passport number, while the green certificate has the name of the location where the vaccination was completed).
All passengers departing internationally will still need to complete a negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test at Jackson Airport, Port Moresby, at time of check-in.
Access to testing closes two hours prior to scheduled departure.
The airline said wearing of face masks in the terminals and on board the aircraft was mandatory, hand sanitisers were provided, and social distancing was followed wherever practical in order to ensure international travel remained as safe as possible.
According to the Health secretary Dr Osborne Liko, those who wish to travel need to submit a copy of their vaccination cards (the green card) issued at the vaccination sites together with copy of the demographic information page of their passport.
He said the details to be provided to the department were:

  • NAME, date of birth, gender, nationality (as shown on the passport);
  • NATIONAL identification document, if applicable;
  • VACCINE batch number; and,
  • DATE of vaccination.

“The vaccination certificates are signed, stamped with the stamp of authority and issued as soon as possible when it comes to us,” he said.