Home Europe US set to require foreign travelers to be fully vaccinated

US set to require foreign travelers to be fully vaccinated

by editor

The U.S. is reportedly working on a plan that will allow foreign travelers to enter the country only if they are fully vaccinated.

The path forward will eventually include easing travel restrictions that ban many countries’ residents from traveling to the U.S., a White House official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The official said that interagency groups are developing a “new system ready for when we can reopen travel,” which will include “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.”

Restarting travel would toss a lifeline to the hard-hit aviation and travel sectors. However, the U.S. government is reluctant to ease travel restrictions immediately due to concerns over rising COVID-19 cases and the highly infectious Delta variant.

The official’s comments were the strongest indicator yet that the U.S. sees a path toward easing travel restrictions. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had previously declined to specify when the U.S. may open to most foreign citizens during a visit to France in June.

The U.S. has banned entry for most travelers from the U.K., the EU, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil. EU officials have previously expressed “huge disappointment” in the lack of reciprocity from the U.S., as the EU and the U.K. now allow fully vaccinated Americans to visit without quarantining.

Source link

Related Posts