As more of the world gets vaccinated, many jurisdictions are reopening travel, albeit in a carefully calibrated manner. In announcements made over the past few days, several popular destinations for Indians have been opened to some categories of travellers, while one nation — the United Kingdom — has angered India by a seemingly arbitrary change of rules that is discriminatory to vaccinated Indians.
UNITED STATES
Jeff Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator, said on Monday that foreigners will be allowed into the country if they can show proof of full vaccination before boarding a plane to the US, and a negative Covid-19 test within three days of arriving in America.
However, details on key aspects such as which visa types will be issued, and which specific vaccines will be considered as capable of inoculating “fully”, are not known yet.
Zients was reported as saying international travel was critical to connect families and friends, for businesses, and for open exchange of ideas and culture, but it was not clear if tourism was being opened up as well. The New York Times report noted that “the halt to the 18-month ban on travel from 33 countries” including India, “could help rejuvenate a US tourism industry that has been crippled by the pandemic”.
On the issue of “full vaccination”, The NYT report said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers people as “fully inoculated two weeks after they receive the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine”.
The report quoted Thomas Skinner, a CDC spokesman, as saying that people who have been jabbed with vaccines listed by the World Health Organization, such as AstraZeneca, too would be considered fully vaccinated. What has not been clarified is whether Covishield, the Made-in-India variant of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, also qualifies.
After completely banning flights from countries including India in January,…