National Geographic: What vaccines mean for the return of travel

By Johanna Read

    As several companies announced vaccines toward the end of 2020, hope returned for regular travel in 2021. Still, there is anxiety over the potential of catching COVID-19. Most people said that they wouldn't be doing any extra traveling, and many said that they are still concerned about exposure.

"'Vaccine hesitancy is a critical obstacle to overcome,' says Dr. Tom Kenyon, the chief health officer of Project HOPE, a global health and humanitarian relief organization, and a former director at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To get back to travel, the U.S. and the world need herd immunity, thought to be achieved when about 70 percent of the population has protective antibodies. Kenyon says, though, that '70 percent is an arbitrary figure, and there is no "off/on" switch with herd immunity.' Recent news about more transmissable strains of COVID-19 suggest that herd immunity might only come when 90 percent of citizens have antibodies."

    So the majority of the population will need to be vaccinated for travel to resume, but there are already significant backlogs in distribution, with just 3 out of the 20 million injections in the US. In addition, almost 50% of people had concerns about the safety of the vaccine itself.

"...it’s still not clear if vaccinated people can spread COVID-19. 'We don’t yet have data on whether any COVID vaccines reduce risk of spread/transmission; right now data only shows that vaccines reduce risk of illness,' says ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton."

    That means vaccinated people could spread the virus, like asymptomatic people, without realizing it, and those who travel should still follow all safety guidelines until further research can be conducted. In addition, most of the world's vaccine supply has already been secured by the wealthiest countries, leaving developing countries and the initiatives started to help them with very little. Because of this, international travel to popular destinations in developing countries could have a negative impact.

    Once the front-line workers and vulnerable people are vaccinated, they will start going out to the public. At that point, companies may start to require vaccination for entry or travel. There are currently many "vaccine passports" being developed.

"Until there’s an abundance of approved and delivered vaccines, it’s all but impossible for anyone outside government-identified priority groups to get a shot. Yet, as soon as the U.K. approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, travel agents in India started fielding requests for quick vaccination trips to the U.K., even though that would require a complex web of dual citizenship, quarantines, and more. Attention is now on the U.S. and Russia as possible vaccine destinations."

    However, you could be scammed with fake vaccines or vaccines that haven't been maintained at the proper temperature. In addition, there might be no way to certify the vaccination with this method.

"Safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines mean that life, including travel, are likely to get back to normal one day...Until then, reminds Mullen, 'the privilege to travel somewhere should not come at the expense of the residents of those destinations.'"