The best-known COVID-19 expert in the U.S. says the American government should “seriously” consider requiring domestic travellers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“There’s requirements that you might want to get if you want to get into college, or you want to go to a university, or you want to work in certain places,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on MSNBC on Monday. “When you make vaccination a requirement, that’s another incentive to get more people vaccinated. If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that’s something that seriously should be considered.”
CNBC reports that “There is no indication at this point that a vaccine mandate” will come to pass for domestic U.S. flights.
When asked on MSNBC, Fauci declined to say whether he has made the recommendation to Biden, CNBC stated.
Canadians and other international residents who fly to the U.S. are required to show proof of vaccination, but there’s no such requirement for travel within the United States.
Canada, on the other hand, requires vaccination proof for domestic plane travel, as well as trains.
While it appears the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is milder than the dangerous Delta variant that came before it, Fauci said the fact that Omicron is so easily transmissible could mean that U.S. hospitals will get overwhelmed with patients.
:We’re in a tough situation with Omicron,” he said. “It’s not something to be taken lightly.”
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. state that 72.7% of U.S. residents age 18 or older have at least two vaccine doses. For the entire population, that figure is 61.8%.
In Canada, 76.8% of the entire population has been double vaxxed. That’s a full 15 points higher than in the U.S.
