Note

September 24, 21 - 11:43 am - LABS

Vaccine tourism to the U.S. ends in November

Vaccine tourism to the United States will end in November, said the White House. As of that month, travelers who wish to enter the country must be fully vaccinated, and only by immunizers approved by CDC and those on the list for emergency use of the World Health Organization (WHO): Pfizer/BioNTech; AstraZeneca; Janssen (Johnson & Johnson); Moderna; Sinopharm and Sinovac’s Coronavac.

However, four vaccines would be outside the list: Sputnik V (from Russia), Novavax (U.S.), and Abdala and Soberana (Cuba).

It is not yet clear what the case will be for people who receive a dose of each vaccine. Argentina, for example, was one of the first countries to widely use Spunitk V. In August, however, the country’s government announced that it would offer a second dose of Moderna or AstraZeneca to those first vaccinated with Sputnik V due to the delay in the arrival of new shots from the Russian vaccine.

Sputnik V was also used in Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Venezuela.

The decision can boost the U.S. economy

According to Reuters, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Thursday that the decision by the Biden administration to lift international travel restrictions in early November will be a boost to the U.S. economy, especially for tourist destinations like New York and for business travel.

Raimondo said the decision announced Monday to allow fully vaccinated foreign nationals to fly to the United States “is huge. I think it will really be a boost to our economy, it will certainly be a boost to travel, tourism, hospitality.” To address COVID-19 concerns, the U.S. has barred most foreign nationals from coming to the United States who have recently been in 33 countries including China, South Africa, Brazil, India, and much of Europe.