Travelers to the US will still need proof of a Covid vaccination in 2023 – making the US the only western country to abide by the failing policy.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has extended the rule until at least January 8 next year to “limit the risk of Covid-19including virus variants”.
But there has been a growing acceptance among experts that Covid vaccines – while very effective at preventing serious illness – do not stop infections very well.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), admitted earlier this year that injections “can no longer prevent transmission”.
Yet since November 2021, anyone entering the United States — even citizens returning home — must provide proof of a Covid vaccination.
Most major Western countries such as the UK, France and Germany have already abandoned this type of recommendation.
Countries still requiring the Covid vaccination to enter are: China, Angola, Libya, Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia, Yemen, Indonesia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
The TSA’s announcement said it was renewing the policy to “limit the risk that Covid-19…is introduced, transmitted, and spread in the United States and through the United States.”
As the graph above shows, the introduction of proof of vaccination for travelers on November 8, 2021 did not stem the influx of Covid cases of the Omicron variant over the winter of the last year
The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has said travelers will need to prove their Covid vaccine status in order to ‘reduce the spread of Covid-19’, even though the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control has issued guidance that addresses unvaccinated and vaccinated people the same
The renewed TSA policy will run through January 8 next year and may be extended beyond that.
The document reads: “Together with the Presidential Proclamation and CDC Order, these policies are intended to limit the risk that Covid-19, including variants of the virus that causes Covid-19, will be introduced, transmitted and spread in and across the United States, potentially overwhelming United States health and public health resources, endangering the health and safety of the American people, and threatening the security of our civil aviation system.
This contradicts the CDC’s own tipspublished in August, which no longer differentiates between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
Estimates indicate that Covid vaccines prevent around 30-40% of infections within three to six months of vaccination. But it drops to practically zero after that.
But the blows reduce the risk of serious illness or death up to 90% in the months following inoculation.
Dr Walensky summed it up in January this year when she said, “Our vaccines are working exceptionally well. \
“They continue to perform well for Delta with respect to critical illnesses and fatalities. They prevent it… what they can no longer do is prevent transmission.
The shots got weaker and weaker to prevent transmission as Covid mutated.
The updated bivalent vaccines were expected to boost protection against Omicron and its subvariants which are dominant worldwide.
But there are doubts whether the vaccines actually work better than the original, because reported by DailyMail.com this week.
The Biden administration and the CDC dropped the requirement for international travelers to the United States to provide a negative Covid test in June, but will not budge on the need for Covid vaccines.
This means that vaccinated people can fly even if they test positive for the virus.
More than 80% of the United States have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine and 69% are doubly vaccinated.
But uptake of booster doses has been slow, with only 26.3 million people taking the bivalent injections.
Dr William Schaffner, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told DailyMail.com the extended policy was a “headache”.
He said: “There are several reasons why it is a headache that travelers entering the United States must continue to demonstrate their Covid vaccination status.
“First, Covid is abundant and spreads widely in the United States, so we’re not protecting our population from an infection that’s not there. Second, vaccines are only modestly effective at preventing transmission. Indeed, vaccinated people can be infected and transmit the virus to others”.
He added: “Finally, in the face of any highly contagious respiratory virus, it has been clearly demonstrated that travel restrictions of any kind are not very effective in preventing new viruses from entering a country – and Covid is not. newer.”