US will exempt some foreign air travelers from Covid-19 vaccine rules

The exceptions were outlined as the administration provided new details of its plans to reopen international travel amid the pandemic, following pressure from European officials and major airlines. The administration said in September that new vaccination requirements for foreign nationals would change a range of travel limits from Europe, China, Iran, Brazil, South Africa and India.

The administration said Monday that vaccination requirements for foreign airline passengers, which will take effect next month, include children under the age of 18, people in certain vaccine clinical trials, individuals with medical contraindications to the vaccines and those with federal letters. Exceptions will be allowed for Confirm that they are traveling for emergency or humanitarian reasons.

Exceptions will also be made for people traveling on non-tourist visas from countries that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determines have low vaccine availability.

A senior administration official said people from countries found by the World Health Organization to have fully vaccinated less than 10% of their population are eligible for that exemption if they are traveling for an essential reason. will qualify. According to the WHO, about 50 countries have not yet vaccinated 10% of their population, most of them in Africa and the Middle East.

Individuals who are exempt will typically have to certify that they will comply with public health requirements, which, with some exceptions, include a mandate that if they plan to stay for more than 60 days. They will be vaccinated in America.

The US has said that the new vaccination requirements will replace travel restrictions that began in January 2020, when former President Donald Trump banned non-US citizens from China. The air travel ban was expanded to other countries in Europe, including Iran and Brazil, and later South Africa and India.

For people from countries that were subject to the ban, the new vaccination requirements will reopen travel for the first time in a year and a half in some cases. The policy may also prohibit travel from other countries that were not previously subject to many restrictions.

Under the change, foreign nationals wishing to travel to the US must show proof of vaccination, as well as test a negative for Covid-19, within three days of departure. Digital certificates will be accepted. Children aged 2 to 17 years will be included in the testing requirements for foreign travellers.

Vaccination requirements do not apply to Americans returning from abroad, but some will be subject to stricter testing requirements as of early November. The administration said last month that unvaccinated Americans re-entering the country must show proof of a negative Covid-19 test within a day of travel. Previously, all travelers were required to submit a negative viral test result within three days of travel to the US, and that deadline will remain in place for vaccinated Americans.

The Biden administration is also planning to ease Covid-19 travel restrictions on land-border crossings from Canada and Mexico and those routes taking those routes into the US for non-essential reasons to show proof of vaccination starting in November. Foreign nationals will be required. The administration said additional details would come soon.

New air-travel requirements rely on airlines for monitoring and tracking passengers. Under a CDC order, airlines flying into the US are required to keep information about contacting passengers and provide data to the agency if needed.

Airlines must match the name and date of birth to confirm that the passenger is the same person as reflected on the proof of vaccination, and determine that the record was issued from an official source. They must review travelers’ information to make sure it meets the CDC’s definition for full immunization.

Major airlines resisted contact-tracing requirements in the first months of the pandemic, but in the coming months many have taken steps to collect more contact information from customers on a voluntary basis.

Airlines pressed for months to lift travel restrictions to the US, which shut down lucrative trans-Atlantic markets and hampered international business travel. Major carriers said bookings surged soon after the White House last month announced its plans to replace travel restrictions with a vaccine protocol.

Delta Air Lines Inc.’s bookings in Europe are up six times in November and December before the easing of restrictions was announced, Delta President Glenn Hounstein said earlier this month. United Airlines Holdings Inc said bookings from international agencies grew 35% compared to 2019 levels following the White House announcement.

The CDC has previously said that vaccines authorized or approved by the Food and Drug Administration or listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization will meet the criteria for travel to the US that will include vaccines from Pfizer Inc-BioNtech SE. , Modern Inc. and Johnson & Johnson which are in use in the US; Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine; and Sinopharma and Sinovac Vaccines of China. Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has not yet been authorized or approved by the FDA or WHO.

The CDC also said in guidance earlier this month that it would accept a mixed combination of doses of the two different vaccines for air travelers.