Travel Vaccine Breaking News

The Indian Embassy in Rome announced via Twitter on September 23, 2021, that after a meeting held between health leaders, the Covishield COVID-19 vaccine is valid proof of immunity.

This news means that those vaccinated with the India-made Covishield vaccine can now be used to enter Italy.

Additionally, everyone immunized with Covishield is now eligible to obtain the Italian Green Pass, which extends the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate.

Furthermore, Italy is launching some of the strictest anti-COVID measures, reported NPR's Sylvia Poggioli. Starting in October 2021, government and private workers will be required to prove COVID-19 vaccination against or lose income.

To alert international travelers, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice citing a high level of COVID-19 in Italy.  And the Department of State's Level 3 Travel Advisory recommends that travelers reconsider travel to Italy due to COVID-19. 

The journal Clinical Infectious Diseases published the finding of a new study on September 21, 2021, that found the overall SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus attack rate during airplane flights under 4 hours was less than 1%.

The results from over 5,700 passengers on 177 flights departing from Wuhan, China, in early 2020, found the attack rates among travelers varied by seat distance from the index case and joint travel time.

Still, the variation was not significant between the types of aircraft.

Furthermore, this study indicates sitting in the same row as a SARS-CoV-2 infectious passenger had the highest risk of infection.

And, the coronavirus transmission risk on international flights may increase due to longer travel distance and time for the international journey.

The ongoing measles outbreak in the Central African Republic (DRC) was declared in January 2020, and by the end of the year, 28,633 suspected cases with 137 associated deaths were reported. And the outbreak continued in 2021.

As of August 21, 2021, the DRC has reported about 2,049 measles cases.

Over the years, routine and supplemental measles immunization vaccination coverage has been suboptimal in the DRC.

Twenty-five percent of the measles cases confirmed in 2021 are unvaccinated. And the administrative vaccination coverage at the national level remains less than 70% as of June 2021.

As a result, a national vaccination campaign targeting children up to 10 years was conducted in two phases in 2020.

'The country (DRC) needs to continue with vaccine campaigns for vaccine-preventable diseases and reinforce the mechanisms for ensuring that these campaigns reach targeted populations to prevent further outbreaks of diseases such as measles,' says the WHO.

The U.S. CDC suggests infants traveling internationally should get one dose of a measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine before departure to the DRC. This dose does not count as part of the routine childhood vaccination series.

Separately, the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a meningitis outbreak in the Tshopo Province on September 8, 2021. The CDC recommends that travelers two months or older traveling to the north-eastern DRC get vaccinated against meningitis.

Anyone can get meningococcal disease, but people who live or travel to some regions of the world are more likely to get it.

The "meningitis belt" of sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of meningococcal disease in the world. The disease is more common in this part of Africa during the dry season (December through June).

People with meningococcal disease spread the bacteria to others through close personal contact, such as living together or kissing. Bacteria that cause meningococcal disease can also infect the blood, causing septicemia. 

Getting a meningococcal vaccine is the best way to protect against meningococcal disease. There are two types of meningococcal vaccines available in the USA: Meningococcal ACWY (MenACWY) vaccine; Serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) vaccine.

“It is not a good time to travel to Hawai‘i,' stated Governor David Ige on August 23, 2021. But a clarification of a recent study may change his opinion.

The Lancet reported on September 15, 2021, the Article by Mathew Kiang and colleagues is one of few studies available to inform policymakers in Hawaii, USA, on the efficacy of different testing and quarantine strategies for preventing new introductions of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus variants into the island's populations.

The primary endpoint of the study—the cumulative number of infectious days—is proposed to measure the risk to the destination of importing virus infections from international travel.

However, the tallies include infectious days before travel, which do not expose the destination population.

To assess exposure to the destination population only, the tally should start on the day of travel.

By this measure, the 3-day pre-travel virus test reduces the days of exposure to the destination population by 20% relative to no testing. This recalculation is less than the reported 36% reduction that includes pre-travel exposure days.

Another confusion that comes from the March 2021 study is infectious days during the 5-day post-arrival quarantine simulations.

It shows that quarantine has no effect on the cumulative days of the exposure until day 5 and beyond.

For some reason, Kiang and colleagues included the travelers' infectious days during 5 days of quarantine in the cumulative count, even though these days are not exposing the destination population.

If the infectious days during the 5-day quarantine period were excluded, the reduction in exposure to the destination population under strategy #2 would be far greater than the 70% reported in the study.

Gov. Ige says 'We continue to welcome other travelers to the Hawaiian Islands with a pre-travel test.'

A peer-reviewed study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings on September 1, 2021, showed a single COVID-19 molecular test performed within 72 hours of departure could decrease the rate of people actively infected onboard a commercial aircraft to a level that is significantly below active community infection rates.

For example, when the average community virus infection rate was 1.1%, COVID-19-tested flight rates were 0.05%.

"This real-world data – not simulation models – is what governments around the world can use as a blueprint for requiring vaccinations and testing instead of quarantines to re-open borders for international travel,” explained Dr. Henry Ting, Delta’s Chief Health Officer, in a press statement.

“Air travel risk varies depending on COVID-19 case rates and vaccination rates at the (flights) origin."

"But the data collected from this study show that the routine use of a single molecular test within 72 hours before international travel for unvaccinated individuals significantly mitigates the risk of COVID-19 exposure and transmission during airline travel.”

“When you couple the extremely low infection rate on board a COVID-19-tested flight with the layers of protection on board including mandatory masking and hospital-grade air filtration, the risk of transmission is less than one in one million between the United States and the United Kingdom, for example,” Dr. Ting added.

The US Transportation Security Administration confirmed on September 17, 2021, it continues to adjust its security operations during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

TSA launched the “Stay Healthy. Stay Secure.” campaign, which details proactive and protective measures at security checkpoints to make the screening process safer for passengers and our workforce by reducing the potential of exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Recent TSA security processing data for mid-September 2021 indicates air travel in the USA remains far less than recorded during 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Georgia Department of Health and Mayo Clinic conducted the study in conjunction with Delta. The researchers disclosed various industry relationships.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 4: Very High Level of COVID-19 alert for the Caribbean island country of Jamaica on September 7, 2021.

The CDC says, 'Avoid travel to Jamaica.'

'If you must travel to Jamaica, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel. However, because of the current situation in Jamaica, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.'

Furthermore, check the travel vaccines and medicines list and visit your doctor at least a month before your trip to get the supplies you may need.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Jamaica has averaged about 4.3 million tourists a year.

Separately, the US Department of State issued a Level 4 Travel Advisory which says, 'Do not travel to Jamaica due to COVID-19, and exercise increased caution in Jamaica due to crime. 

Violent crimes are common, such as home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and homicides. Sexual assaults frequently occur, including at all-inclusive resorts.

Some specific areas have increased risk of crime, such as:

• Listed areas of Kingston,
• Listed areas of Montego Bay,
• Spanish Town.

Read the entire State Department Travel Advisory at this link.

Additionally, the US Embassy in Kingston says In light of the Jamaican government’s announcement of no-movement days in September, the U.S. Embassy will be closed for regular consular services on those days.

According to the latest data published by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on September 5, 2021, U.S. air travelers have returned to 2019 levels. 

The TSA's latest report shows about 2.1 million American air passengers were screened on September 3rd, matching the pre-COVID-19 pandemic volume recorded in 2019.

This Labor Day holiday increase may be the opposite action U.S. CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D. recommended to about 47% of Americans in early September 2021.

"First and foremost, if you are unvaccinated, we would recommend not traveling," Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said during a recent White House briefing.

Dr. Walensky also carefully vaccinated people to be cautious, advising them that they consider their risk of developing COVID-19 when making Labor Day weekend plans.

"People who are fully vaccinated, and who are wearing masks, can travel," Walensky said.

"Although given where we are with disease transmission right now, we would say that people need to take these risks into their own consideration as they think about traveling," reported NPR. On September 4, 2021, the CDC reported that only 53% of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

As of August 30th, the CDC's COVID-19 Travel Recommendations by Destination was updated regarding international travel.