More people will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before travel restrictions can be lifted, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday published guidelines for people who have been vaccinated, relaxing restrictions on who they could meet indoors without social distancing, for example.
But the new recommendations did not change restrictions on travel. That means people wanting to travel to visit family or friends face a long wait until more of the population is vaccinated against COVID-19.
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Psaki was asked about why the travel guidelines had not been relaxed during her Tuesday briefing.
“It’s just a first step,” she said. “As more people get vaccinated they’ll look at ways to ease additional restrictions.”
She said only 10% of the population had been immunized so far.
“Ninety percent is not,” she said. “There’s still a concerning impact of travel on people who are not vaccinated, and … we are still tracking and looking at the impact of variants.”
There is increasing evidence that vaccinated individuals do not spread the coronavirus. However, scientists are still trying to understand how long immunity lasts.
The new guidelines attempt to chart a course for safely allowing people to increase their activities once they have received two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or a single shot of the Johnson & Johnson version.
“The level of precautions taken should be determined by the characteristics of the unvaccinated people, who remain unprotected against Covid-19,” say the guidelines.
Psaki was also asked about “vaccine passports” and whether they might be one way to identify people who are safe to travel or attend public events.
“We recognize that as many Americans get vaccinated, questions will come up, and they are already starting to come up as to how people will be able to demonstrate they are vaccinated,” she said.
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For now, the focus is on getting vaccines into more arms, she added.
“We’ll think about how people can demonstrate they are vaccinated as we get more people vaccinated,” she said.
