Leading airlines and business groups are asking the Biden government to develop temporary credentials that allow travelers to show that they have been tested and vaccinated against COVID-19, a step the airline industry believes will help to revive travel.
Several groups and countries are working on the development of so-called vaccine passports, with the aim of allowing more travel. But airlines fear that some regional credentials will cause confusion and none will be widely accepted.
“It is crucial to establish a uniform orientation” and “the United States must be a leader in this development,” more than two dozen groups said in a letter on Monday to the White House coronavirus response coordinator, Jeff Zients. However, the groups said that vaccination should not be a requirement for national or international travel.
The groups include major US and international airline trade organizations, airline workers’ unions and the United States Chamber of Commerce. The White House did not immediately comment.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations aviation arm are working on the type of information to include in a credential. Aviation industry groups are particularly interested in the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention taking a leadership role, believing that this would increase the certainty that the information in the credentials is legitimate.
The CDC issued new guidelines on Monday for fully vaccinated people, saying they can – without face masks – find other vaccinated people and visit unvaccinated people in a single home who are at low risk of serious illness. However, the health agency still does not recommend travel.
“Every time there is an increase in travel, we have an increase in cases in this country,” said the director of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
Walensky noted that many variants of COVID-19 now spreading in the United States began in other countries. Still, she maintained the possibility that, with more data, the CDC would soon approve the travel of vaccinated people.
Airlines were particularly affected by the pandemic. Despite a partial recovery, American airlines still lose $ 150 million a day, according to the commercial group Airlines for America.
In the United States, the number of people passing through airports remains almost 60% lower so far this year compared to 2019, the last normal pre-pandemic year. Most of these people are flying within the United States.
Airlines are relying on widespread vaccinations to boost travel and vaccine passports to boost highly profitable international flights.