If You Got Vaccines to Leave a Country in August Do You Need to Get Them Again Innovember?

After you lot've been vaccinated for COVID-19, is it safe to travel? Where volition y'all be able to go, and what will be required of you? Experts answer these questions and more than.

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It'south been only over two months since the U.South. began distributing the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for COVID-xix, and since that time more than 64 million doses have been administered, co-ordinate to the CDC'southward vaccination tracker.

At the electric current rate of about 840,000 doses being administered each day on boilerplate, 75 per centum of the U.Southward. population should receive their offset vaccine dose by Oct 2021, according to an interactive Reuters COVID-19 vaccine tracking tool. Correct now, more than 13 pct of the U.S. population has received at to the lowest degree one dose. Estimates on when nosotros might attain herd immunity, when plenty people are immune to the virus then that it tin can't spread, vary between as early as this spring and equally late equally this autumn.

In the concurrently, many healthcare and frontline workers, as well equally citizens age 65 and older have begun receiving their first and second doses. And they, similar many of the rest of us eagerly awaiting our turn in line, are likely asking themselves: Now what? What can I do? Can I travel? What condom precautions will I still demand to take? Where can I get? Who tin I come across?

Earlier this month, we asked our readers for the questions they accept about the time to come of travel at this critical juncture in the pandemic—where we're still very much in the thick of the health crisis just have begun to become a glimpse of what a way out may wait and feel like, thanks to the development and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines. Nosotros reached out to infectious disease experts to assistance us answer them.

They report that the vaccines are indeed a cause for optimism, including for travel and travelers.

"I'one thousand so hopeful about this year in terms of travel and being able to get back to doing, [perhaps] slightly differently, a lot of the things nosotros're used to doing. And that's of course due to the vaccines," says Kristin Bratton Nelson, assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. Manisha Juthani, an acquaintance professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine, and an infectious diseases specialist at Yale Medicine, is also encouraged about how this year will unfold.

When asked what advice she would offer travelers regarding how they should view the coming weeks and months to avert having also many hopes dashed (we already went down that road in 2020, think?), she says, "Once vaccinated and if the rates of infection are low around you and in the place that you are going to, I would definitely plan to travel.

"I miss traveling myself and hope to have a trip on a aeroplane in 2021. It volition require continued vigilance, public/individual partnerships, and a commitment from everyone in the world to become this virus to recede, but I remain hopeful that we can practice this in 2021."

The bottom line, says Dr. Juthani, "Sign upwards for a vaccine equally soon as your chance comes to get information technology."

What protection do COVID-19 vaccines provide?

Before getting into the logistics of travel in a postvaccine globe, we should first tackle the public wellness basics of what it really ways to get vaccinated.

"The vaccines are very effective at preventing severe affliction," explains Nelson.

"Simply because yous go vaccinated does not necessarily mean that you lot tin't become infected with SARS-CoV-two or COVID-19, only it does mean that if you are, yous are much less likely to be hospitalized and you are much less likely to have a lot of the severe outcomes that we worry about with COVID."

Dr. Juthani notes that while 1 in xx people vaccinated past either the Pfizer or Moderna shots being administered in the United States volition get COVID, the disease will be balmy to moderate for those who are vaccinated. "Data to date show that vaccination protects 100 percent from hospitalization and expiry," says Dr. Juthani.

Am frequently asked about different vaccines and their efficacy

Each trials tracks, reports efficacy differently

Currently, we have preliminary results for Novavax and J&J

But what numbers thing? What should you look for?

Here'south 1 set of data to track. In a simple table pic.twitter.com/9m2OBgqcla

— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) February ane, 2021

Nelson adds that more recent inquiry has also indicated that existence vaccinated is "very likely to reduce the likelihood of manual if you lot were to be infected. . . . Just because you are vaccinated does not necessarily hateful you can't carry it and spread it to other people, but it does make it that much less likely."

Is information technology safe to travel once you've been vaccinated for COVID-nineteen?

Infectious disease experts concur that being vaccinated gives travelers a very important and effective added layer of protection. But that even with that added layer of protection, travelers should accept precautions—and baby steps.

For starters, you shouldn't caput out the door immediately after your second dose.

"Certainly, beingness vaccinated will give you peace of heed when yous travel," says Amira Roess, professor of global health and epidemiology at George Mason Academy. Simply, she adds, "Retrieve that vaccines don't work immediately. Yous need to give your body about two weeks later on each dose for a strong plenty allowed response to occur. . . . We expect that nigh 2 weeks subsequently your second dose you may have very high protection."

Roess notes that because nosotros are still seeing a lot of customs transmission of COVID-19, and because there are new variants circulating that nosotros are still learning more about, those who are vaccinated should remain vigilant by standing to wear masks and practicing social distancing while traveling.

"This is especially critical during this time when near people are withal not yet vaccinated. At some indicate, hopefully in the non-besides-distant future, nosotros hope that a large enough proportion of our population will be vaccinated and then we'll exist able to outset to return to life equally information technology was prepandemic," says Roess.

Nelson says she sees travel unfolding in a couple unlike phases as the vaccine rollout continues. During phase one, as a per centum of the population commencement to get vaccinated, people may cull to take trips that are critically of import to them, travel they feel they really need to do, whether it'south to see family, or for another pressing personal or professional person reason.

"This whole game is only reducing your risk at every point that you tin," says Nelson. "One time y'all are vaccinated it does non hateful that you can become to a party with 100 people without a mask . . . but it does hateful that the gamble-benefit sort of changes for a lot of these questions that we have been thinking most over the last twelvemonth—that balance shifts once you're vaccinated. It's not that you lot don't take precautions, it's merely that y'all experience a lot safer doing something that maybe nine months ago yous wouldn't have done. And I think that that'southward perfectly reasonable."

Ideally, she said she would like to see a larger percentage of the population inoculated before nosotros start venturing out on non-necessary vacation getaways. She suggests waiting another three to vi months before heading out for nonessential trips.

But, she adds, "Plan that trip. Plan it for late summertime, plan it for fall, then you have something to look forward to. I think there'southward a very reasonable expectation that a large segment of the population is going to exist vaccinated [by then]."

If I travel to come across family, what precautions should nosotros all take if some aren't vaccinated?

Equally those who are older and at college risk from COVID-xix get vaccinated, the risk dynamic for gatherings volition showtime to change. Over the past year, we've all get accepted to not simply protecting each other but protecting older or more vulnerable friends and family with even greater intendance because they are at higher hazard. Once they are vaccinated, who will be protecting whom—and how?

"Masking and distancing at gatherings are still the all-time way to protect those that are not vaccinated or older adults at this time. Given that gatherings have been express, starting to allow for some gatherings just withal having public health measures in place is a practiced transition every bit we start to emerge from this pandemic," says Dr. Juthani.

Will proof of a vaccination be a requirement to travel?

Beyond the public wellness communication, there'south likewise the issue of logistics. Whether or not you are vaccinated, y'all tin can, of class, currently travel. Y'all can bulldoze or fly to countless destinations throughout the U.S. and you lot can even venture further afield, to destinations in the Caribbean area, Mexico, and to countries where Americans are allowed entry, typically when armed with negative COVID test results.

Only in that location are many places in the world that have been and remain off limits to numerous travelers due to the pandemic, including much of Europe and Asia. Many borders take been closed entirely. Thus, the question is how and whether being vaccinated will impact where we tin become in the world and under what conditions.

All indications are that proof of a COVID-19 vaccination could eventually open some doors for travelers. But it won't necessarily open them all and it won't necessarily be the simply way to unlock those doors. In many cases, the doors could remain close for some time as governments continue to monitor global vaccine rollouts and new coronavirus variants that emerge.

Thus far, but a scattering of governments have indicated that they volition ease entry restrictions for vaccinated travelers. And even among those destinations, there are oft still loopholes for travelers. For instance, European countries such as Poland, Republic of iceland, and Cyprus that have unveiled plans to relax restrictions for vaccinated travelers have reported that information technology will still simply be for those who were already immune to enter (with restrictions), such as travelers from the European Union. Vaccinated travelers would simply exist allowed to bypass quarantines and possibly testing measures.

Seychelles, which has likewise reported it will permit vaccinated travelers to enter without having to quarantine, said those with COVID-19 vaccine certificates volition still demand to present a negative COVID-19 examination effect as well.

Will nosotros need a vaccine passport to travel internationally?

In a January 21 Executive Order on Promoting COVID-nineteen Safety in Domestic and International Travel, President Joe Biden directed government agencies to assess the feasibility of developing an international digital vaccine certificate to which COVID-19 vaccination condition could be linked.

Numerous companies accept already begun developing and executing the applied science for such a digital COVID passport—they include the CommonPass, the IBM Digital Health Pass, and the International Air Transport Association'south IATA Travel Pass. But what is less clear is how and whether governments will use digital vaccine passports, seeing equally they haven't even established articulate policies on entry requirements for vaccinated travelers.

In January, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed a European COVID-xix vaccination certificate that would allow those who are vaccinated to travel freely in Europe. (The proposal did not address those coming in from outside of Europe.)

Eu leaders met on Jan 21 to hash out the possibility of having a common vaccine certificate, after which European Council president Charles Michel said that Eu leaders "should be able to concord on common elements to include in a certificate for medical purposes," according to a Reuters report.

Potentially using the certificate for travel purposes was accounted to require farther talks, Reuters reported.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) recently warned, even so, that relying on the vaccinations equally a passport to entry for travel simply excludes too many travelers. The organization is instead pushing for more and meliorate testing protocols.

"The common sense approach is to allow the complimentary movement of people who tin can prove a negative [COVID-19] test consequence, rather than reserve traveling for a minor minority who have been vaccinated," Gloria Guevara, president and CEO of the WTTC, said in a statement.

Guevara'south concern is that if countries or travel companies require vaccinations from travelers, those further downwardly the list, such as younger travelers or those in countries where the vaccines aren't being made available every bit apace, will be at a disadvantage.

"We should non discriminate confronting those who wish to travel but have not been vaccinated," Guevara added.

Whether it'south discriminatory or not, some cruise lines have already decided to make vaccination a requirement for passengers to lath, including luxury line Crystal Cruises, U.South. riverboat operator American Queen Steamboat Company, and its sister line Victory Cruise Lines, which sails the Great Lakes and in Alaska and United mexican states. Cruising has been largely on hold since concluding March when several major coronavirus outbreaks on cruise ships defined the dramatic beginnings of this global pandemic. Given the challenges cruise lines have faced, peradventure it's no surprise that some are playing it extremely cautiously, requiring vaccinations from guests and crew.

What the coming weeks and months will reveal is how many additional travel companies and governments will begin developing vaccine policies for travelers and what those policies will look similar.

If I'thousand vaccinated will I all the same need to get tested for COVID when I travel?

For the time being, the vast majority of destinations that accept COVID-19 testing requirements in place for travelers have not yet developed bypass options for vaccinated travelers. Whatever vaccinated travelers who travel in the well-nigh future should await to have to follow the same rules as unvaccinated travelers regarding COVID-19 testing requirements.

This could of class change if and when governments begin to accommodate entry requirements for vaccinated travelers. But every bit mentioned above, with the exception of a handful of countries, such every bit Iceland, we have yet to encounter these kinds of adjustments made on any larger scale withal.

Will vaccinated travelers need to quarantine after traveling?

Similar to the higher up, we have yet to run into quarantine requirements exist adjusted past more than a few countries for vaccinated travelers. For now, vaccinated travelers should expect that they volition exist required to adhere to the quarantine requirements set along by the destinations they are traveling to.

That existence said, amongst the requirements being waived for vaccinated travelers past the few countries, such as Poland and Seychelles, that accept already laid out their rules for vaccinated travelers is the need to quarantine. So, information technology'due south certainly a possibility in the future. Nosotros're just not there all the same.

How could international travel with kids work?

Considering we take all the same to see big-scale policy adjustments for vaccinated travelers of whatever kind, information technology is far besides soon to know what kinds of exceptions, if whatsoever, will be made for children. If COVID testing requirements are any indication, many destinations typically exercise have an exception for kids—but the age limits on these exceptions vary widely. The U.S. requires negative COVID tests from kids entering the United States who are age ii and older and Canada requires it for kids age 5 and older, as ii examples.

George Bricklayer University's Roess notes that clinical trials that will assess the safety and efficacy of COVID-nineteen vaccines in children are only outset. "The hope is that enough information will exist available by the center of the summer that vaccination may begin towards the cease of this yr in older pediatric populations but more probable vaccination in the majority of pediatric populations volition not begin until 2022," says Roess.

Dr. Juthani of Yale says that we tin wait to start to see some data about children and COVID vaccines by the fall. She notes that young children are less likely to get the virus and are less probable to be hospitalized from information technology. "So, if parents and grandparents can get vaccinated, families tin assess their own risk tolerance and consider travel fifty-fifty if their children are not vaccinated," advises Dr. Juthani.

How might the newer coronavirus variants touch on travel?

With regards to the newer variants of coronavirus that have emerged more recently, including those that have been identified in the United Kingdom, Due south Africa, and Brazil, the concern there is that some take been found to be more than transmissible, explains Emory University's Nelson. They are "more probable to spread than some of the strains that we've been dealing with for the past twelvemonth," she says.

As governments keep a watchful middle and endeavour to keep peculiarly concerning variants at bay, they could impact how and when governments relax travel restrictions—nosotros've already seen some restrictions tighten in direct response to the variants, such as the United States expanding its COVID-19 travel ban to include travel from South Africa, due to the variant circulating there.

New variants mean that travelers should too be more vigilant.

"If I were to travel on an airplane right now, I would be more than comfortable with a KN95 mask because we don't know as much about how like shooting fish in a barrel [these new variants] spread. What we do know is that they're a footling flake more than dangerous," says Nelson.

Nelson notes that while the electric current vaccines were tested against the variants that were circulating last year and might be a little less effective against newer variants, "The vaccines are extraordinarily effective against the variants that we saw circulating last yr. So, if they are a little less effective against the variants, yes, that is concerning but y'all are still more protected than you would be if y'all were not vaccinated."

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Source: https://www.afar.com/magazine/can-i-travel-after-getting-the-covid-19-vaccine

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