Exclusive-U.S. developing plan to require foreign visitors to be
vaccinated -official
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[August 05, 2021]
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden
administration is developing a plan to require nearly all foreign
visitors to the United States to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as
part of eventually lifting travel restrictions that bar much of the
world from entering the United States, a White House official told
Reuters on Wednesday.
The White House wants to re-open travel, which would boost business for
the airlines and tourism industry, but is not ready to immediately lift
restrictions because of the rising COVID-19 case load and highly
transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant, the official said.
The Biden administration has interagency working groups working "to have
a new system ready for when we can reopen travel," the official said,
adding it includes "a phased approach that over time will mean, with
limited exceptions, that foreign nationals traveling to the United
States (from all countries) need to be fully vaccinated."
The extraordinary U.S. travel restrictions were first imposed on China
in January 2020 to address the spread of COVID-19. Numerous other
countries have been added, most recently India in May.
The official's comments were the strongest signal to date that the White
House sees a path to unwinding those restrictions.
Last month, Reuters reported that the White House was considering
requiring foreign visitors to be vaccinated as part of discussions on
how to relax travel restrictions.
The official added the "working groups are developing a policy and
planning process to be prepared for when the time is right to transition
to this new system."
Some countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, are relaxing or
lifting restrictions for vaccinated Americans to travel.
The White House has held discussions with airlines and others about how
it would implement a policy of requiring vaccines for foreign visitors.
The administration must also answer other questions including what proof
it would accept of vaccination and if the United States would accept
vaccines that some countries are using but which have not yet been
authorized by U.S. regulators.
The United States currently bars most non-U.S. citizens who within the
last 14 days have been in the United Kingdom, the 26 Schengen nations in
Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa,
Iran and Brazil.
The White House interagency talks previously had focused on requiring
vaccines for nearly all foreign visitors arriving by air. The White
House official did not immediately answer questions about whether the
administration is developing plans to also require visitors arriving
from Mexico and Canada to be vaccinated before crossing land borders.
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Passengers arrive on a flight from London amid new restrictions to
prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at JFK
International Airport in New York City, U.S., December 21, 2020.
REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Currently, the only foreign travelers allowed to
cross by land into the United States from Mexico and Canada are
essential workers such as truck drivers or nurses.
It was not clear how long the administration will maintain existing
restrictions but the official reiterated that infections "appear
likely to continue to increase in the weeks ahead" and that "the
United States will maintain existing travel restrictions at this
point."
Industry officials still think it will be at least weeks and
potentially months before restrictions are lifted.
Former President Donald Trump's administration did not set any
metrics for adding or dropping countries from the list, and neither
has Biden's. Trump did attempt to lift European countries from the
restrictions in January but Biden reinstated the restrictions before
they were dropped.
Many critics of the restrictions say they no longer make sense
because some countries with high rates of COVID-19 infections are
not on the restricted list while some countries on the list have the
pandemic under control.
The restrictions have separated loved ones and prevented some people
working in the United States from returning to home countries and
others from coming for employment.
Last week, Reuters reported the White House was discussing the
potential of mandating COVID-19 vaccines for international visitors.
The sources said at the time no decisions had been made.
The Biden administration has also been talking to U.S. airlines in
recent weeks about establishing international contact tracing for
passengers before lifting travel restrictions.
(Reporting by David ShepardsonEditing by Chris Reese and David
Gregorio)
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