Children under 18 years of age and people in dozens of countries with a shortage of vaccines against COVID-19 They will be exempt from the new rules that will require most travelers to the United States to be inoculated, the administration of President Joe Biden announced Monday.
The government will require airlines to collect contact information from passengers regardless of whether they are vaccinated in order to help with contact tracing, should it become necessary.
Beginning November 8, non-immigrant foreign adults traveling to the United States must be fully vaccinated, with limited exceptions, and all travelers must undergo a COVID-19 diagnostic test before boarding a plane bound for the country. In addition, restrictions will be tightened for Americans and foreigners who are not fully vaccinated.
The new policy comes as the Biden administration moves away from restrictions that prohibit non-essential travel from several dozen countries – mostly in Europe, China, Brazil, South Africa, India and Iran – and into its place focuses on ranking people by the risk they pose to others.
It also reflects that the White House is using vaccination requirements as a tool to pressure more Americans to get vaccinated by making it problematic for them to stay uninoculated.
Under that policy, those who are vaccinated must show a negative COVID-19 diagnostic test that must be performed within three days prior to travel, while those not vaccinated must present a diagnostic test taken one day in advance of their trip.
Those under the age of 18 will not be required to be fully vaccinated as in many places they are not yet eligible, but they will need to have a diagnostic test for COVID-19, except for children under 2 years of age.
Others who will be exempt from the vaccination requirement include people who participated in COVID-19 clinical trials, who had severe allergic reactions to vaccines, or who are from a country where inoculations are not widely available.
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Koenig reported from Dallas.
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