US working on plan to admit only vaccinated visitors
Biden administration fashioning a plan to boost airline and tourism industry
WASHINGTON : The Biden administration is developing a plan to require nearly all foreign visitors to the US to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as part of eventually lifting travel restrictions that bar much of the world from entering the country, a White House official said.
The White House wants to reopen travel, which would boost business for the airlines and tourism industry, but is not ready to immediately lift restrictions because of the rising caseload and highly transmissible Delta variant, the official said.
The Biden administration has inter-agency 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 travelling to the United States (from all countries) need to be fully vaccinated".
The US travel restrictions were first imposed on China in January last year to address the virus spread. 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.
The official added that 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 Britain, are relaxing or lifting restrictions for vaccinated Americans to travel.
The White House has held discussions with airlines and others on how it would implement a policy of requiring vaccines for foreign visitors.
WHAT PROOF?
The administration must also answer other questions including what proof it would accept of vaccination and if the US would accept vaccines that some countries are using but which have not yet been authorised by US regulators.
The US currently bars most non-US citizens who within the last 14 days have been in Britain, the 26 Schengen nations in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil.
The White House inter-agency 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 from Mexico and Canada to be vaccinated before crossing land borders.
The US hit a six-month high for new cases with over 100,000 infections reported on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally.
The country is reporting over 94,819 cases on a seven-day average, a five-fold increase in less than a month, Reuters data through Wednesday showed.
In the coming weeks, cases could double to 200,000 a day due to the Delta variant, said top US infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci.
"If another one comes along that has an equally high capability of transmitting but also is much more severe, then we could really be in trouble," Dr Fauci said in an interview.
Unvaccinated people represent nearly 97 per cent of severe cases, according to the White House Covid-19 Response Team. - REUTERS
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