The United States has announced removing the COVID vaccine requirement for international travellers. This will be brought into effect from May 11 as per the statement issued by the White House, which also added that the COVID-19 public health emergency will also end on the same day.
Referring to this, the United States Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Homeland Security announced that they will start the process to end their vaccination requirements for Head Start educators, CMS-certified healthcare facilities, and certain non-citizens too at the land border. It further added that further details will be revealed in the coming days.
The White House, while recalling the time when the Biden-Harris Administration announced COVID-19 vaccination requirements to promote the health and safety of people, stated that the COVID rules will be further relaxed.
As per the reports, the US administration's vaccination requirements helped to ensure the safety of workers in critical workforces, including healthcare and education sectors, and protecting themselves and the populations in the process, and also strengthening their ability to provide services without disruptions to operations.
The statement further read that they also put into place vaccination requirements for certain international travellers to slow the spread of new variants entering the country and to allow their healthcare system time to effectively manage access to care if faced with an increase in cases and hospitalizations.
It also stated that while vaccination remains one of the most important tools in advancing the health and safety of employees and promoting the efficiency of workplaces, they are now moving in a different phase of response when these measures are no longer necessary.
