The US’ Biden administration is mulling a new program to reopen international travel to the country, with only those fully vaccinated being allowed to enter the nation.
This was revealed recently by a Washington official to the Reuters news agency.
The American administration is keen on reopening international travel to the US after more than a year of tough restrictions and bans that forbade most foreigners from coming to the country.
This would further boost the economy, helping a series of sectors including the airline industry, as well as tourism and commerce.
However, the soaring numbers of new coronavirus cases due to the highly transmissible Delta variant makes US officials wary of the prospect of an uncontrolled reopening of the country’s borders.
Reuters reports that the US officials want “to have a new system ready for when we can reopen travel,” adding that this system includes “a phased approach that over time will mean, with limited exceptions, that foreign nationals traveling to the United States (from all countries) need to be fully vaccinated.”
Biden Worried over Delta Variant, Which Spreads Faster, Even to Those Vaccinated
An internal US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) document warned earlier this summer that the Delta variant of the coronavirus appears to spread as easily as chickenpox; not only that, but it also causes a more severe infection in those who contract it.
The slide presentation out of the CDC summarized previously unpublished data that shows that those who are fully vaccinated might even spread the Delta variant of the coronavirus at the same rate as those who are unvaccinated.
New outbreaks are occurring all over the US at the moment, with the vast majority of them in those who have refused to get the shot.
In some areas of the country, the rate of infection hovers between 98% and 99% of those who are unvaccinated.
At the same time, the issue of whether to get a third, or booster, shot of the vaccine is still on the table as the Pfizer corporation stated recently that they were indeed efficacious.
Their data shows that antibodies in those between 18 to 55 years of age increase by five times after getting a third dose of the vaccine.
Biden Administration Determined to Boost Vaccination
The federal government in the US has already decided to motivate more federal workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 also by implementing strict procedures for those who are still unvaccinated.
The announcement was made earlier this summer as part of a new push by the President to increase the inoculation rate in America.
Biden is looking to find new angles to convince unvaccinated Americans to get their shots as the highly transmissible Delta variant runs rampant across the US and the world. The surge in severe cases and hospitalizations due to the variant’s spread can overwhelmingly be attributed to unvaccinated individuals, as scientific data suggest.
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