Israel welcomes vaccinated medical tourists

From the beginning of this month, Israel’s Ministry of Tourism has been welcoming back vaccinated individual tourists and medical tourists.

The Ministry of Tourism emphasises that this is only the start of the journey. As things improve it will be possible to ease more conditions of entry into Israel.

Who can enter Israel? Any foreign national who:

  • Has been vaccinated with an approved vaccine.
  • Recovered from coronavirus within the last six months or received a booster shot since recovering more than six months ago.
  • Did not spend time in a “red” country with high infection rates during the 14 days prior to arriving in Israel.
  • Arrives via Ben-Gurion Airport.

There are currently no red countries.

The following vaccines have been approved:

  • Moderna
  • Pfizer
  • Johnson & Johnson/Janssen
  • AstraZeneca
  • Covishield
  • Sinopharm
  • Sinovac
  • Sputnik V Russian – the approval of this vaccine is vital to revive medical tourism from Russia.

Entry requirements to the country remain complicated. Before entering Israel, the traveller must have:

  • A PCR test up to 72 hours before boarding.
  • Passengers need to upload either their verifiable digital vaccine or recovery certificate or their paper certifications to the incoming passenger form on the Health Ministry website to receive their Green Pass before travel.
  • A recovered individual will also need to bring this digitally recovery certificate
  • Travel insurance.

And upon entry, people must:

  • Take a PCR test at the airport
  • Those vaccinated with Sputnik V must take both a PCR test and a serological test
  • If a person tests positive for COVID-19 during their stay in Israel, the individual will be transferred to a hospital or state-run coronavirus hotel. All medical treatment will be at the expense of the foreigner and the individual’s insurance policy.