Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert, said Monday that the country should “seriously” consider a vaccination mandate for domestic travel.
During an interview with MSNBC, Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief scientific advisor on the COVID-19 response, said that “when you impose a vaccination requirement, it’s an added incentive for more people to get vaccinated.”
The United States currently requires that most foreigners entering the country be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but has not required it for domestic travel.
Government sources have said they are not enthusiastic about requiring vaccination for domestic travel because they anticipate that it will immediately face legal challenges, mitigating its possible effectiveness as a tool to increase vaccinations.
Biden’s order that employees be vaccinated is mired in legal disputes and the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in early January in cases seeking to overturn them.
For his part, Biden promised on Monday full federal government support for states facing increases in COVID-19 cases due to the more omicron variant, including more testing.
“If you need something, say something, and we are going to support you in any way that we can,” the president said at a regular meeting between his coronavirus response team and the National Governors Association.
Biden acknowledged the long lines and chaos as Americans try to get tested in the face of the surge in cases during the holidays.
He mentioned his government’s plan to make 500 million rapid tests available starting next month via a website that has yet to be developed.
A White House official said the new tests would come from a new manufacturing capacity and would not interfere with existing supply chains.
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