In a recent statement, the United States of America or the US announced that it has ended the mandatory prerequisite for international travellers to be vaccinated. The US government put the mandate into place to inhibit the spread of the COVID-19 disease. International travellers were denied entry to the country if they weren’t vaccinated or did not have a valid reason to not be vaccinated. However, this mandate will no longer be applied.
US Ends COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
A recent statement released by the White House stated that international travellers are no longer required to be vaccinated in order to travel to the country from the 11th of May. In addition to this, the statement also specified that the public health emergency declared for the COVID-19 pandemic will also end on the same day.
According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services the USDHHS and the United States Department of Homeland Security or the USDHS, the process for ending the vaccination requirements will start soon.
Head Start educators, healthcare facilities certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the CMS, and some non-citizens will also fall under the purview of this new update. More information will be available soon, the statement specified.
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The Mandate Will Continue For Some International Travellers
It is important to note that the statement specified that, for certain international travellers, this mandate will continue. The prerequisite of being vaccinated in order to enter the country will be applicable. This is being done in order to inhibit the spread of certain variants of the COVID-19 disease.
The statement further went on to state that though the vaccine remains one of the most efficient forms of protection, the country is now transitioning into a different phase of battling the disease. Hence, it is also further relaxing the rules and measures put in place when the pandemic was still ongoing.
There are also various mechanisms being put into place to help the country better manage possible situations of a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases.
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