Travel just got a lot easier… Vaccines and travel.
Exciting news in the travel world, friends!
The CDC has updated and relaxed its travel guidance for those travellers that are fully vaccinated. If you needed another good reason to get vaccinated, well, here it is.
So what does this mean? It means a number of things.
For domestic travellers, it means that you can travel to visit Grandma and go right back to work when you return home. No need to quarantine post-travel -unless your state requires it. (BTW: In Washington state, we have been advised to follow the CDC guidelines, so these are the only rules you’ll need to follow at this time -yahoo!)
Fully vaccinated international travellers can also skip the self-quarantine upon returning to the U.S. Yay!
You will only be required to take a COVID test to travel if your destination requires it.
Worth noting, a negative COVID test will still be required of international travellers, vaccinated or not, for return to the U.S. But -silver-lining- your likelihood of being denied boarding your flight because you’ve been found to be infected drops dramatically once you’ve been fully vaccinated!
“What does ‘fully vaccinated’ mean? It means you’ve received either both rounds of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single Johnson & Johnson vaccine AND two weeks have passed after your final shot.”
Vaccinated travellers will still need to wear a mask, socially distance, and keep up on the hand-washing when traveling.
If you’re sitting there saying to yourself, Hannah, that’s great, but I don’t really see the cause for a celebration, then let me put it this way: the CDC says that fully vaccinated travellers travel at low risk to themselves, and that non-vaccinated travellers are still discouraged from any non-essential travel.
Not to mention, vaccinations are becoming the key to traveling to a number of countries, including travel hotspots like Belize, Iceland, Croatia, and the Seychelles. During the spring and summer, Greece, Thailand, and Israel will join that list. It’s all but guaranteed that many other countries will follow, particularly across Europe. Some countries like Ecuador and Guatemala are allowing vaccinated visitors to forgo pre-travel COVID tests or mandatory quarantine periods, and rumor has it that Hawaii will be following that same model.
A fan of cruising? A number of cruise lines will require passengers to be vaccinated, including major players like Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Virgin, and Viking. Princess, who plans to sail around the U.K. this summer, will require vaccines for those sailings, and I would not be surprised to see them extend that to their other sailings.
Vaccine requirements aren’t just for the big ocean liners either. Popular river cruise lines like American Queen Steamboat Company and Avalon Waterways will also require proof of vaccination.
Now, I’m not going to dance around the elephant in the room. There are folks that are upset that a vaccine might be required to travel. I have even heard an argument that requiring travellers to show proof of a vaccine is a violation of HIPAA laws. For what it’s worth, vaccine requirements for travel is absolutely nothing new. Many countries require travellers to show proof of certain types of vaccinations in order to be able to travel there.
Proof of a COVID vaccine very well may become just another routine vaccine on the list of vaccines that many countries require for entry. And just so we’re clear, requiring a traveller to disclose they have been vaccinated is unequivocally NOT a violation of HIPAA laws. Travel is a choice, and choosing to travel means choosing to share you’ve been vaccinated when a destination requires it. You don’t HAVE to travel. (But oh boy, life would sure be a lot less fun and exciting without it!)
I hope this answers some of your travel-related vaccination questions, and if you need any help finding out what you need to get to where you want to go, never hesitate to reach out. 2022 travel planning is really heating up, so if you want to take advantage of some of the great prices and generous cancellation policies before demand drives them up, you know where to find me!
Yours in travel,
Hannah