One of the last relics of pandemic restrictions in the world is about to be over.
ON 01MAY, the Biden administration announced it's dropping most of the last remaining U.S. federal COVID vaccine requirements effective 11MAY. That's when the American national public health emergency relating to the virus expires.
For travellers, that means that the mandate for non-U.S. citizens travelling by air to the United States to be vaccinated will be lifted.
According to CBC, the U.S. "is also beginning the process of lifting shot requirements for... non-citizens at U.S. land borders."
Biden administration officials said the U.S. would continue to monitor for new strains of the COVID virus entering the country via its aircraft wastewater testing program.
"We think that we are much more able to identify if a new variant shows up in the United States and respond effectively," White House COVID-19 co-ordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told The Associated Press, as CBC reports. "And I think that's what makes the need for a vaccine mandate for travellers less necessary right now."
The move was immediately hailed by at least one politician representing a border community with Canada. U.S. House representative, Democrat Brian Higgins,' district includes the popular border gateways of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York. He called the lifting of the vaccine mandate "long overdue."
"This last lifting of pandemic restrictions is certainly welcome news and critically important as we seek opportunities to encourage a robust cross-border exchange that delivers shared prosperity," he said in a statement.
The move brings the United States into line with the entire Western world, and most other countries, in treating the COVID-19 virus as endemic.
The Canadian government still recommends that anyone over 65 years of age, as well as those with compromised health, get a COVID booster shot, but the CBC reports the National Advisory Committee on Immunization saying that average Canadians are " likely OK without another dose — for now."
