Major business and airline groups are calling on the Biden administration to develop temporary credentials that will allow travelers to prove they have been tested and vaccinated against COVID-19, a step the airline believes will help revive travel.
Several groups and countries are working on the development of so-called vaccine passports to allow more travel. But airlines fear some regional credentials will cause confusion and none will be widely accepted.
“It is crucial to establish uniform guidelines” and “the U.S. must be a leader in this development,” more than a dozen groups said Monday in a letter to White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients. However, the groups said vaccination should not be a requirement for domestic or international travel.
The groups include major U.S. and international airline trade organizations, airline unions, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The White House did not comment immediately.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations aviation group are working on the type of information that needs to be included in a credential. Airline industry groups are especially interested in getting U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to play a leading role, believing it would increase the certainty that credential information is legitimate.
The CDC on Monday released new guidelines for fully vaccinated people, saying they can, without masks, meet other vaccinated people and visit unvaccinated people from a single home with a low risk of serious illness. However, the health agency still recommends not traveling.
“Every time there is an increase in travel, we have an increase in cases in this country,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
Walensky noted that many variants of COVID-19 that are spreading in the United States began in other countries. However, it offered the possibility that with more data CDC could soon approve the trips of vaccinated people.
Airlines have been particularly affected by the pandemic. Despite a partial recovery, U.S. airlines continue to lose $ 150 million a day, according to the trading group Airlines for America.
In the United States, the number of people passing through airports continues to fall by almost 60% so far this year compared to 2019, the last normal pre-pandemic year. Most of these people fly to the United States.
Airlines have widespread vaccines to increase travel and vaccine passports give a boost to highly lucrative international flights.