Coronavirus: US plans to require foreign visitors be vaccinated
- The White House wants to reopen travel to boost the tourism and aviation industries, but is not ready to lift restrictions amid rising Covid-19 cases
- The travel restrictions were first imposed on China in January 2020, but numerous countries have since been added to the list
The Biden administration is developing a plan to require nearly all foreign visitors to the United States to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as part of eventually lifting travel restrictions that bar much of the world from entering the United States, a White House official said.
The White House wants to reopen travel, which would boost business for the airlines and tourism industry, but is not ready to immediately lift restrictions because of the rising coronavirus caseload and highly transmissible Delta variant, the official said.
The Biden administration has inter-agency working groups working “to have a new system ready for when we can reopen travel”, the official said, adding it includes “a phased approach that over time will mean, with limited exceptions, that foreign nationals travelling to the United States (from all countries) need to be fully vaccinated”.
The extraordinary US travel restrictions were first imposed on China in January 2020 to address the spread of Covid-19. Numerous other countries have been added, most recently India in May.
The official’s comments were the strongest signal to date that the White House sees a path to unwinding those restrictions.
