White House Working On Plan To Allow More Foreign Tourists Back To The U.S.—If They’re Vaccinated - Forbes

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Topline

The Biden administration is in the early stages of coming up with a way to mandate vaccination for nearly all international visitors as part of a plan to gradually roll back travel restrictions and open the U.S. back up to the world for the first time since the borders were sealed for most nonessential travel more than a year ago, according to multiple reports.

Key Facts

Reuters first reported the White House plans, quoting an official as saying the Biden administration is aiming to have “a new system ready” that would require foreign nationals to be fully vaccinated against coronavirus to enter the country, with few exceptions.

The Biden administration is looking to gradually pull back many of the travel restrictions in place, CNN and the Associated Press confirmed, although there’s no plan to change current travel policies in the immediate future.

The delta strain, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates is the variant causing most new coronavirus infections in the country, is a driving force behind the White House’s decision to push back on reopening to more international travel, according to media reports.

The White House has to hammer out details including what border control agents would accept as proof of immunization and which coronavirus vaccines would be accepted, according to Reuters—while only three coronavirus vaccines have been granted emergency use authorization in the U.S., other countries are administering vaccines approved in their respective nations.

Key Background

Most nonessential travel to the U.S. by people without U.S. citizenship or residency has been put on hold since last year. Anyone who in the past two weeks has been in the following countries is barred from entering: China, Iran, the U.K, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, all countries in the Schengen Area and India. While many countries like Italy and France have reopened to vaccinated Americans, the U.S. has not returned the favor.