US airline industry is looking to get people to travel again. A year after the pandemic, leading airlines and businesses are urging the Biden administration to come up with a standardized COVID passport. Among groups include the US and international airline trade organization, airline labor unions, and the US Chamber of Commerce.
The airline industry fears that there will be confusion if there’s no uniform documentation of whether a person has been vaccinated or not.
White House coronavirus-response coordinator Jeff Zients agrees with this. He said that “it is crucial to establish uniform guidance”. He added that the US should be “a leader” in this matter. However, airlines are against making vaccination a requirement for both international and domestic travel.
The CDC is still cautious to let fully vaccinated individuals travel. CDC issued new guidelines allowing fully vaccinated individuals to gather indoors without masks and meet unvaccinated individuals. However, the guideline still wants fully vaccinated individuals to delay their air travel plans.
Countries that started their COVID19 vaccinations are trying to work having their COVID19 passport. EU countries are already working on having a standardized approach in this matter. This can make it easier for airport staff to process each traveler’s documents.
On March 1, European Commission’s president Ursula Von der Leyen proposed in a tweet that there should be a “Digital Green Pass” for EU citizens. Von der Leyen specified that this green pass should also contain information regarding a person’s COVID19 test for those who can’t get vaccinated.
This is a tricky situation since some fear that it could lead to discrimination. The scientific community is also wary of how long the immunity will last. On top of that, there’s a concern about vaccine efficacy against emerging variants.
US airlines lost more than $35 billion last year since the pandemic started. By May, the Biden Administration announced that there will be enough supply of vaccines for American adults who wanted to get vaccinated. It is expected that there will be more people who would want to travel again.
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