• Sunday, April 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Vaccine passport wave grows as U.S. re-opens to int’l travelers

Private Health Alliance, Sanofi team up to assess Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy

The United States (U.S.) will re-open to air passengers from China, India, Britain and many other European countries who have received COVID-19 vaccines in early November, the White House said Monday.

This could well mark the beginning of roll back on what have been tough pandemic-related travel restrictions that started early last year.

The White House plans to allow non-U.S. citizen travelers from countries who have been barred from the United States since early 2020 as it moves to the new requirements, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said, according to Reuters.

The U.S. restrictions were first imposed on travelers from China in January 2020 by then-President Donald Trump and then extended to other countries in the following months, without any clear metrics for how and when to lift them.

President Joe Biden in April this year added new travel restrictions on India, barring most non-U.S. citizens from entering the United States. Biden also reversed plans by Trump in January to lift restrictions on European countries.