The Washington Post just ran a story entitled, Do I need a covid booster shot to travel? 5 things to consider. The story brings up an important factor for people planning their travels, something I’m sure many people haven’t considered before.
We all know that most of Europe, as well as other countries around the world, are either requiring travelers to be fully vaccinated before arrival or are heading in that direction. There will be some destinations that won’t require vaccinations for, at least, the short term but that list is getting shorter and shorter.
New Vaccination Requirements for Travelers
But as scientists and doctors continue to learn about the virus and the effectiveness of the vaccines, a new consideration is arising for travelers: Some countries will start requiring that travelers will either need to have had their second vaccine dose within a certain time frame, or get a booster to enter.
A question that was posed in the article was: Will vaccine mandates eventually include a third dose? Their expert, Patrick Kenney, an infectious-disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital in Florida, said, “It’s hard to say if or when that might happen. But a couple of European countries so far — Austria and Croatia — have said vaccine certificates for entering the country will only be valid for 270 days after the final dose.”
For those calculating like I did, 270 days is 38.5 weeks or 8.8 months (yes, I used a calculator).
It looks like Austria and Croatia aren’t the only two countries putting forth these requirements. After doing a little research, I see Switzerland states, “The vaccine must have been administered in full within the past 12 months.”
I imagine there will be plenty more following suit and if the vaccine only protects people for 6 months, then expect these time frames to decrease.
It’s a whole new world out there so when planning your trips, make sure to find out if the country you’re going to has a requirement, not only if vaccines are required but also when you had to have received your last dose by. There’s now a good chance that travelers will either need to get a booster (if one is offered) or pick a new destination.
KEEP IN MIND: Like everywhere these days, nothing is set in stone. The rules and requirements are constantly changing so continue to keep checking if anything changes leading up to your trip, including the day before.
Perhaps if everyone concerned themselves with getting their own vaccines and stop obsessing about those who don’t (where’s the obsession re the vaccine exemption for religious reasons?), we wouldn’t be so polarized. As is becoming clear per factual news developments, even the vaccinated can reacquire and die of COVID. And we’re all going to die of something, so perhaps your time might be better spent, vaccinated or not, focused on getting your own things in order (such as your trust, will, executor, health directive, etc, which can take a long time to set in legal place.) Then stop stressing out over COVID, live your own life as best as you can, wear your own mask if you’re unsure of your surroundings or company, and enjoy family love in the times of COVID, instead of near NIMF (not-in-my-family) hatred of the unvaccinated. An alternative would be to “round-em up and lock-em up,” but history tells us that option seldom works well). Keep obsessing about the unvaccinated and you may end up needing mental health services (even if you’re not a stereotyped homeless).
Right on Marilyn! I totally agree with your post and others who have posted similar thoughts regarding the covid vaccine and travel. I just received my booster shot Friday. I live in a state that has one of the lowest vaccinated rates in the Nation and our hospitals so overcrowded with unvaccinated patients they are on the verge of of implementing their crisis standard of care procedures. Our overworked dedicated compassionate nurses are struggling with not allowing feelings of anger entering into their thoughts at they provide care to their patients as they fight an easily preventable disease. Like yourself and others, I have absolutely no desire to travel with unvaccinated travelers. To me, while I totally disagree with their stance to not being vaccinated, I also firmly agree that by doing so they’ve automatically accepted the consequences of severely limiting their ability to travel.