The United States confirmed that it will accept the vaccination schedules that travelers seeking to enter the country have received abroad, as long as they are approved by the national health authority or are on the World Health Organization emergency use list. .
This decision complements what was reported 20 days ago by the White House, which announced that in November travel restrictions for passengers from 33 countries that have their full vaccination schedule would be eliminated, but without specifying at that time which vaccines were not approved by the FDA would be included.
A spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) told Reuters that six vaccines licensed / approved by the FDA or included in the WHO emergency use list “will meet the criteria for travel to the United States.”
The same spokesperson said that “earlier this week, to help them prepare their systems, we informed the airlines” of the vaccines that would be accepted and added that “the CDC will publish additional guidance and information as the requirements for to travel.”
Some countries had lobbied the Biden administration to accept WHO-approved vaccines, as vaccines licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration are not widely used in all countries.
Initially, the measure reported in September allowed the entry of travelers with a complete scheme from the 26 countries of the Schengen area, Great Britain, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil. The opening to the acceptance of other vaccines will allow to expand the countries to which the vaccination scheme will be validated.
Although there are still unclear points, such as the case of unvaccinated minors, subjects that took part in clinical trials, or dose combinations, it is estimated that once the new access conditions are published, the restrictions will be strongly relaxed.
So far, and taking into account the vaccines approved by the FDA -Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen- and those that appear on the WHO emergency use list (AstraZeneca / Covishield, Sinopharm, Sinovac), whoever has the complete schedule with Those vaccines could benefit.
It is expected that the WHO approves the Sputnik V vaccine, from the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, to be approved very soon, since the same WHO authorities reported a few days ago that the evaluation was “ready” and that “paperwork” had to be completed. .
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