People who recently tested positive for Covid-19 and who cannot take the booster for now will be exempted from rules that will come into force on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne told Parliament on Monday.

He was replying to a parliamentary question by PN MP Joe Ellis, who asked what the government’s positition on these individuals will be after 17 January.

As from Monday, vaccine certificates will have an expiry date based on the date of administration of the second dose of the vaccine or the booster. For those who have not yet received the booster dose, the certificates will only be valid for three months from the date they received their second dose. For people who have received the booster, the certifcate will be valid for nine months from the date of that dose.

People who test positive for Covid have to wait four weeks from their first positive PCR test before being allowed to take the booster.

Ellis asked whether such individuals can have this information included in their vaccine certificate.

Replying, Fearne said that, over the coming days the government will be publishing standards, including on a temporary exemption for people who test positive and will be ineligible for the booster for a period of time.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Nationalist Party called on the government to scrap the measures that are set to come into force on Monday.