United States to accept WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines for international visitors

WASHINGTON – The United States will accept the use by international visitors of COVID-19 vaccines authorized by U.S. regulators or the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday evening.

On September 20, the White House announced that the United States would lift travel restrictions on air travelers from 33 countries in November, including China, India, Brazil and most of Europe, which are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. He did not specify then which vaccines would be accepted.

A CDC spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday: “Six vaccines authorized / approved by the FDA or listed for emergency use by the WHO will meet the criteria for travel to the United States.”

On Friday evening, the CDC said that “earlier this week, to help them prepare their systems, we informed the airlines” of vaccines that would be accepted and added “The CDC will release additional guidance and information as and when. as travel requirements are finalized ”.

Airlines for America, a trade group representing American Airlines Co, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and others, said it was “pleased with the CDC’s decision to approve a list of permitted vaccinations for travelers entering the United States. . We look forward to working with the administration. to implement this new global vaccine and testing framework by early November 2021. ”

Some countries have pressured the Biden administration to accept WHO-approved vaccines because vaccines licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration are not widely used in all countries.

The United States will admit fully vaccinated air travelers from the 26 so-called Schengen countries in Europe as well as Great Britain, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil. Unprecedented U.S. restrictions have banned most non-U.S. Citizens who have been in those countries for the past 14 days.

The new COVID-19 vaccine requirements will now apply to almost all foreign nationals traveling to the United States – including those not subject to the previous restrictions.

The CDC has yet to finalize and publish new contract tracing rules for international visitors, which it sent to the White House for review on September 15.

The CDC is also to detail the rules for exceptions, which include children not yet eligible for vaccines, as well as for visitors from countries where vaccines are not widely available. The administration must also decide whether to admit visitors for COVID-19 clinical trials or to have recently contracted COVID-19 and are not yet eligible for vaccination.

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