US details new international COVID-19 travel requirements

WASHINGTON (AP) – Children under the age of 18 and people from dozens of countries with a shortage of vaccines will be exempted from the new rules that require most travelers to the United States to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Biden government said.

The government said Monday it will require airlines to collect contact information from passengers, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated, to help with contact tracing if necessary.

Beginning November 8, foreign non-immigrant adults traveling to the US must be fully vaccinated, with a few exceptions, and all travelers must be tested for the virus before boarding a plane to the US and US and foreign nationals restrictions who are not fully vaccinated.

The new policy comes as the Biden government deviates from restrictions that prohibit non-essential travel from several dozen countries – most of Europe, China, Brazil, South Africa, India, and Iran – and instead focuses on individuals according to risk to classify that they represent others.

It also reflects the White House’s acceptance of mandatory vaccination as a tool to get more Americans to get the vaccinations by making it inconvenient to stay unvaccinated.

According to the policy, those who are vaccinated must show a negative COVID-19 test within three days of travel, while those who are not vaccinated must provide a test that was done within one day of travel.

Children under the age of 18 do not need to be fully vaccinated as there are delays in many places to be questioned for vaccines. You will still need to take a COVID-19 test unless you are 2 or younger.

Others who are exempt from vaccination are people who have participated in COVID-19 clinical trials, who have had severe allergic reactions to the vaccines, or are from a country where vaccination is not widespread.

The latter category includes people from countries with vaccination rates below 10% of adults. You could be allowed into the US for a compelling reason and not just for tourism with a government letter, a senior administration official said. The official estimated that there are around 50 such countries.

The US accepts any vaccine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization for regular or emergency use. These include Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and China’s vaccines Sinopharm and Sinovac. Mixing and matching of approved shots is allowed.

The Biden government has worked with airlines who need to enforce the new procedures. The airlines have to check the vaccination records and match them with identity information.

Quarantine officers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will spot-check passengers arriving in the U.S. for compliance, according to an administrative officer. Airlines that fail to enforce the requirements can face fines of up to nearly $ 35,000 per violation.

The new rules will replace the restrictions that began in January 2020 when President Donald Trump banned most non-US citizens from entering China. The Trump administration extended this to Brazil, Iran, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and most of continental Europe. President Joe Biden left these bans and extended them to South Africa and India.

Biden came under pressure from European allies to lift restrictions, especially after many European countries eased restrictions on American visitors.

“The United States is open to business with all the promises and potential that America has to offer,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo after the announcement on Monday.

The US airline industry’s main trading group praised the government’s decision.

“We have seen an increase in ticket sales for international travel in recent weeks and are striving to safely reunite the countless families, friends and colleagues who have not seen each other for almost two years, if not longer,” Airlines for America said in a statement.

The pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions have led to a slump in international travel. U.S. and overseas airlines plan to make about 14,000 flights across the Atlantic this month, a little more than half of the 29,000 flights they made in October 2019, according to data from aviation research firm Cirium.

Henry Harteveldt, an analyst for the San Francisco travel industry, said lifting country-specific restrictions will help, but it will be mitigated by vaccination and testing requirements.

“Anyone hoping for an explosion of international incoming visitors will be disappointed,” he said. “Nov. 8 will be the beginning of the recovery in US international travel, but I believe we won’t see a full recovery until 2023 at the earliest. “

The Biden government has not proposed a compulsory vaccination for domestic travel, which airlines vehemently oppose because it is impractical due to the large number of passengers flying within the United States on a daily basis.

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This version corrects that Gina Raimondo is the trade secretary.

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Koenig answered from Dallas.

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