Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was making a “judgment call” on guidance for traveling for people who have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine because it does not have “data” or “evidence” for some guidance.
“When you don’t have the data, and you don’t have the actual evidence, then you’ve got to make a judgment call,” Fauci said when asked what science the CDC could point to in support of their guidance that fully vaccinated individuals not travel.
Q: What is the science behind not saying it’s safe for people who have been vaccinated to travel?
Dr. Fauci: “When you don’t have the data, and you don’t have the actual evidence, then you’ve got to make a judgment call.”
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While this week’s updated CDC guidelines allowed for slightly more freedom for fully vaccinated people to gather in their homes, its guidance on travel remained the same as it has throughout the pandemic.
“We are really trying to restrain travel at this current period of time, and we’re hopeful that our next set of guidance will have more science around what vaccinated people can do, perhaps travel being among them,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said of the new guidelines.
Fauci promised that the “CDC is carefully heading” in a direction that would allow vaccinated individuals to travel but said that the agency is rolling out a “multi-step process” and will be cautious until they have more science and data to base decisions on.
The new guidance was seen as a major blow to America’s airline industry, which has been particularly hard hit by pandemic restrictions.
“We remain confident that this layered approach significantly reduces risk and are encouraged that science continues to confirm there is a very low risk of virus transmission onboard aircraft,” said a spokesperson for Airlines for America. “We continue to work with the CDC and other appropriate authorities to ensure the implementation of travel policies and measures that prioritize the safety and wellbeing of all passengers and employees.”
Leana Wen, a public health professor at George Washington University, expressed confusion about the CDC’s cautious approach to travel.
“A lot of families are separated from one another and need to travel to see one another. I’m really befuddled by why the guidance around travel was not changed,” Wen said. “Travel is very low risk — imagine if you’re traveling in your individual car or even by plane — whenever everyone is wearing masks, the risk of coronavirus is very low.”
The U.S. Travel Association also urged the CDC to relax guidance on travel, noting that the restrictions have severely disrupted people’s ability to see loved ones and done great damage to the economy.
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“We feel it is critical for U.S. public health officials to set goals for relaxing the official guidance around travel,” the association said. “The year-long pause of travel has kept people apart and caused serious damage to the economy and jobs, and with vaccines progressing and encouraging case trends in many areas, it should be possible to consider a time frame for a broader reopening of travel.”
