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Highlights
- Biden said the earlier rules for country-by-country restrictions are no longer needed.
- The US imposed extraordinary travel restrictions in 2020 to stop the spread of Covid-19.
- The decree further states that travellers from some 50 select countries with national vaccination rates of less than 10% will also be exempted from the rules.
US President Joe Biden has enacted new vaccine rules for foreign travellers while lifting previous travel restrictions on China, India, and Europe effective on November 8, the White House said.
The US had imposed extraordinary travel restrictions in early 2020 to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The rules banned travellers from nearly three dozen countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, including the UK, South Africa, Brazil, India, and Iran.
In the order, Biden said the earlier rules for country-by-country restrictions are no longer needed. But a policy focused on vaccinations would help advance the safe resumption of air travel to the US.
However, the White House said that Monday’s order exempts children under 18 years and people with medical conditions from the new vaccine requirements.
The decree further states that travellers from some 50 select countries with national vaccination rates of less than 10% will also be exempted from the rules. But they will need to be vaccinated within 60 days after arriving in the US.
Those nations include Kenya, Haiti, Chad, Madagascar, Nigeria, Yemen, Egypt, Algeria, Myanmar, Iraq, Senegal, Nicaragua, Uganda, and Ethiopia. On Sep 20, the White House had first divulged it would remove the restrictions for air travellers from 33 countries in early November.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the latest policy would help “boost economic recovery”. The administration also has issued guidelines for the airline companies to verify the US-bound passengers have been vaccinated before boarding their flights.
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CDC Contact Tracing Rules
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new “contact tracing rules” for airlines to collect information from foreign air passengers.
It is to check whether travellers have been “exposed to Covid-19 variants or other pathogens.”
The CDC had earlier said it will accept any vaccine authorised for use by the US or the World Health Organisation for travel and accept mixed-dose vaccines. However, the list of vaccines does not include the Sputnik vaccine widely used in some Latin American countries.
The Mexican government had recently said it plans to use 24 million doses of the Sputnik vaccine to cover around 9% of its population.
A US government official said several other major vaccines would be under review because the regulatory process can help establish the performance of the drugs.
