Will you need the covid-19 vaccine to travel? 


One of many questions remaining about these apps: how they might be integrated with traditional paper passports. MIGHT SOME COUNTRIES REQUIRE COVID-19 VACCINATION FOR ENTRY? Probably, at

least as a way for visitors to avoid restrictions such as quarantine. Several African countries already require vaccinations for yellow fever, for instance, so there’s precedent, says Jan L.

Jones, a professor of hospitality and tourism at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. “So I do think that some places will require it, specifically. And if they don’t require it,

they’re going to require things like quarantine.” Gavin Delany, founder and CEO of the online trip-planning service Travelstride, agrees, noting that it could be extremely confusing for

travelers to suss out different requirements, “as some countries are likely to have tiers of entry rules and vaccination [rules] based on traveler age, perceived risk at the origin country

and political element.” There have been baby steps taken along this path, however. In January, Iceland became one of the first countries to provide vaccine certificates to its citizens to

help them avoid certain border restrictions. It will also recognize the vaccine passports from other countries, allowing visitors to skip COVID-19 testing or quarantine rules if they show

proof of full COVID-19 inoculation. Sweden and Denmark are also working on similar vaccine passports. And now the country of Georgia has announced that “citizens of all countries, traveling

by air … may enter Georgia if they present the document confirming the full course (two doses) of any COVID-19 vaccination.” Otherwise, depending on their country of origin, they need to be

tested for COVID-19 and fill out a special application form. Romania also has testing exemptions for vaccinated visitors. Asked whether a similar kind of vaccine passport might be issued in

the U.S., Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Newsweek in January, “Anything is on the table. Anything is possible, of course.” There

is even a chance that individual states could require visitors to be vaccinated for COVID-19, in the same way they require public school students to show proof of vaccinations for certain

diseases, like polio and hepatitis A, says Anthony Harris, M.D., medical director at WorkCare, a consulting company focused on health in the workplace (including airlines and cruise ships).

Harris considers it “likely, even though it’s going to be a state-by-state process, that states will elect to mandate vaccinations and proving a record of vaccinations.” The public appears

to support such requirements: A survey of 2,415 adults by The Points Guy found that two-thirds (67 percent) of people who are already vaccinated and have a desire to travel say they are more

likely to travel to a destination or with a provider that requires a vaccine passport.