The CEO of Qantas Airlines said passengers on its international flights will likely be required to vaccinate against the coronavirus in the future.
“We are looking at changing our terms and conditions to say for international travelers that we will ask people to have the vaccination before they get on the aircraft,” Qantas’s Alan Joyce said, according to the Associated Press.
Qantas is Australia’s largest airline. Joyce added that the company is looking at different options on how to confirm people have been vaccinated.
“But certainly for international visitors coming out and people leaving the country, we think that’s a necessity,” he said.
This week, AstraZeneca became the third major pharmaceutical maker, behind Pfizer and Moderna, to announce promising data on the effectiveness of its coronavirus vaccine.
“I think these are really exciting results,” Dr. Andrew Pollard, chief investigator for the Phase 3 AstraZeneca trial, said on Monday.
“Because the vaccine can be stored at fridge temperatures, it can be distributed around the world using the normal immunization distribution system,” Pollard said. “Our goal … to make sure that we have a vaccine that was accessible everywhere, I think we’ve actually managed to do that.”
Additionally, Pfizer submitted its application for emergency use authorization for its vaccine candidate last week, which could make the drug available as early as next month in the United States.
“Our work to deliver a safe and effective vaccine has never been more urgent, as we continue to see an alarming rise in the number of cases of COVID-19 globally,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said in a statement. “Filing in the U.S. represents a critical milestone in our journey to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine to the world and we now have a more complete picture of both the efficacy and safety profile of our vaccine, giving us confidence in its potential.”
