Skift Take
Regardless of leading the way with many digital health passport trials, it’s paradoxical that U.S. borders are primarily remaining closed because of the uncertainty around tracking who’s vaccinated.
Matthew Parsons
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Monday she is pushing for the easing of coronavirus constraints that disallow much of the world from traveling to the United States but that U.S. health authorities stay worried about more break outs.
Lots of U.S. organization groups, lawmakers and authorities from foreign federal governments are urging President Joe Biden’s administration to relax tough limitations put in place under former President Donald Trump.
“We’re working it,” Raimondo informed Reuters in an interview “I’m pressing truly hard.”
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She said she met with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Friday but had no info on when a decision might be made.
“The CDC is nervous, and it’s tough to understand if people are immunized,” she said. “There’s no vaccine passport that’s trustworthy, and that’s sort of a huge hurdle.”
The White House says it is continuing conversations with the European Union, Britain, Canada and Mexico on how to eventually lift limitations, however U.S. officials say they still have no schedule and travel industry authorities believe the limitations may not be lifted till August or later.
The White Home has repeatedly ruled out a national vaccine passport.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has joined Raimondo in pushing for raising limitations, according to sources familiar with the conversations, but others in the administration stay concerned that unlocking to more travelers from abroad could lead to increases in Covid-19 infection rates.
A spokeswoman for Becerra had no instant discuss the meeting with Raimondo.
Airlines and others are advising the administration to lift limitations covering most non-U.S. citizens who have just recently been in Britain, the 26 Schengen countries in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil.
The U.S. likewise bars non-essential travelers from crossing into the U.S. from the Canadian or Mexican land borders.
European diplomats and others argue that the list of nations with extreme travel constraints includes some with low infection rates, while others with high infection rates, including Argentina, deal with no restrictions.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Heather Timmons and Peter Cooney)
This post was written by Andrea Shalal from Reuters and was legally licensed through the Market Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing concerns to [e-mail safeguarded]
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