Fauci: US should consider vaccination mandate for US air travel.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert, said Monday that the U.S. should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel, indicating a possible adoption of an idea that the Biden administration had previously avoided, such as COVID-19 cases. peak.

Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief scientific adviser on responding to the pandemic, said such a mandate could increase the nation’s lagged vaccination rate and confer stronger protection on flights, for which federal regulations require that all older than 2 years wear a mask.

“When vaccination is a requirement, it is another incentive to vaccinate more people,” Fauci told MSNBC. “If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think it should be seriously considered.”

Until now, the Biden administration has resisted imposing a vaccination requirement for domestic air travel. Two officials said Biden’s scientific advisers have not yet made a formal recommendation for such a requirement to the president.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said a vaccination mandate on the planes could trigger a number of logistical and legal concerns.

Currently, the US requires that most foreign nationals traveling to the US be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, although citizens and permanent residents are only required to show proof of a negative test taken within one day. after boarding.

Federal rules do not require people who fly within the US to submit a negative test. Hawaii requires travelers to take tests or show proof of vaccination to avoid mandatory quarantine.

Biden did not respond to questions about whether he was considering implementing a vaccination requirement on domestic air travel but told reporters the issue was discussed in a call with the nation’s governors Monday morning.

“They asked Dr. Fauci some more questions about everything, from whether or not he thought he was going to move to do the test at home, that is, on-air flights and that sort of thing,” Biden said of the call before getting out of the White House. for his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Earlier this year, the White House explored a national vaccination requirement for flights or one that requires vaccination or negative test. But officials have not been eager to require vaccination for domestic air travel because they expected it to face immediate legal challenges, mitigating its potential effectiveness as a tool to increase vaccines.

Pressed last week about why Biden had not ordered vaccines for domestic air travel, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told MSNBC that “we know that masking can be, is, very effective on airplanes. “.

“We also know that the implementation of that additional restriction could delay flights, it could have additional implications,” he added. “However, we would do so if the impact on health was overwhelming. That is why we always have the advice of our medical and health experts. That is not a step at this point that they had determined we should take. ”

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that more than 241 million Americans, approximately 77% of the eligible population ages 5 and older, have received at least one injection of the COVID-19 vaccine. Officials believe, however, that there is an overcount in the figures due to record-keeping errors in the administration of the booster injections.

Since the summer, the Biden administration has adopted various vaccination requirements as a way to get unvaccinated Americans to roll up their sleeves. It has instituted requirements for federal workers, federal contractors, and those who work in health care to receive their vaccinations, and that employers with 100 or more employees institute vaccination or testing requirements for their workers.

Those vaccination requirements have been embroiled in legal disputes, and the Supreme Court is prepared to hear arguments on Jan. 7 in cases seeking to overturn them.