The White House announced on Monday that it would finally lift COVID-19 vaccine rules for international foreign air travellers, as well as federal employees and contractors, from the end of day on May 11.
The reason that the Biden administration isn’t lifting the vaccination rule immediately is because it will take place on the same day that the COVID-19 public health emergency is set to end.
The United States has become an international outlier in still requiring foreign travellers to prove they were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while successive governments around the world rolled back all pandemic-era restrictions.
The vaccination requirement was introduced in October 2021, and at the time, it allowed the Biden administration to reopen the U.S. to foreign visitors who had been shut out since early 2020.
Since then, however, the vaccination requirement held firm while other countries eased and eventually abolished their own pandemic entry rules.
Justifying its decision to only lift vaccination rules now, the White House said that COVID-19 deaths have declined by 95 percent and hospitalizations are down nearly 91 percent.
“While vaccination remains one of the most important tools in advancing the health and safety of employees and promoting the efficiency of workplaces, we are now in a different phase of our response when these measures are no longer necessary,” a statement from the White House explained.
Indonesia, Philippines, Chile, Colombia all requires that foreigners get Covid vaccinations before entering or, in some cases, get a negative test. I believe that Easter Island requires vaccination and unvaccinated cannot enter even with a negative test. You don’t want Covid in Easter Island because there is such a bare bones hospital there that you could die. Have a head injury in Easter Island and there is ZERO neurosurgeons there. Have a major eye injury and you are toast because there are ZERO ophthalmologists within a 2000 mile radius of the island.
The title is wrong. The White House Lift Vaccine Requirements, yes. But adding “finally” is very Trumpian and MAGA-like support.
Hundreds of Americans still die every day due to Covid. The pandemic is not over. The news media has gotten tired of covering it but that doesn’t mean it’s cured.