As of May 11, Canadians and all other non-US citizens flying into the United States will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19..According to Forbes, “... other residual COVID-related travel requirements have been quietly falling away this year, including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lifting pre-departure rules that required air passengers departing China, Hong Kong, Macau for the United States to show a negative COVID-19 test result or proof of recovery” before being allowed to board planes..Since the mandate went into effect, international arrivals into the US by air were 25% below pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the US Travel Association (USTA), which represents the travel and tourism industry, and is welcoming the move..“We have survey data we hear from travel buyers on the international side that there are many, many travellers interested in visiting the United States for whom this requirement was a burden,” says Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the USTA. “And they chose other markets because of it. We don’t think we can eliminate this requirement soon enough.”.“According to the USTA, other obstacles to a complete recovery of inbound international tourism include long visitor visa wait times, limited air routes and Russian air space restrictions, reports Forbes..Elimination of the air-traveller vaccine mandate, which applied to all non-US citizens since November 2021, is part of the lifting of all COVID-19 public health emergencies, by President Joe Biden’s White House..“We are now in a different phase of our response when these measures are no longer necessary,” said a White House statement..Also eliminated on May 11 are the vaccine mandates for federal employees and contractors, the last national vaccine mandate that remained in place after legal challenges brought down similar mandates for private businesses, reports Fox News..“Additionally, HHS and DHS announced they will start the process to end their vaccination requirements for Head Start educators, CMS-certified healthcare facilities, and certain non-citizens at the land border,” the White House said in its statement. “In the coming days, further details related to ending these requirements will be provided.”.The vaccine mandates were implemented by the Biden administration, even though the three most common vaccines, from Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, were developed under the Trump administration, which never ordered or required vaccination at the federal level..When Biden took power, he said all Americans needed to get vaccinated, even if he had to force them to do so, mandating it for federal employees, including military personnel, going so far as trying to force vaccinations on every private business with 100 employees or more. .The US Supreme Court denied the move, saying it was government overreach.
