Vaccinated people can resume travel at 'low risk', US CDC says

Washington, DC, United States of America

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has allowed fully vaccinated people to travel, after it had held off for weeks on revising guidance that discouraged all non-essential trips.

The new CDC guidance specifically greenlights vaccinated grandparents getting on airplanes to see grandchildren.

A group representing major US airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and other trade groups had urged the CDC on March 22 to immediately update its guidance to say “vaccinated individuals can travel safely.”

The new guidlines also say fully vaccinated people do not need to get a Covid test before or after travel and do not need to self-quarantine after travel.

“Vaccines can help us return to the things we love about life, so we encourage every American to get vaccinated as soon as they have the opportunity,” CDC director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.

The CDC said grandparents who have been fully vaccinated can fly to visit grandkids without getting a COVID-19 test or self-quarantining as long as they follow CDC advice for traveling safely.

The CDC’s new guidance says fully vaccinated people do not need Covid tests before international travel unless it is required by the international destination and vaccinated people returning from foreign travel do not need to self-quarantine after returning to the United States, unless required by state or local authorities.

The CDC had repeatedly declined in recent weeks to change the guidance and repeated it was still discouraging all non-essential travel because of a concern about new variants.

The announcement lifting the agency’s guidance that all Americans should avoid non-essential travel should be a shot in the arm for a US travel industry still struggling since the COVID-19 crisis began in early 2020.