By The Financial District
Oct 15, 20211 min
Effective Nov. 8, the United States will be requiring coronavirus vaccination for foreign travelers entering the country by air or land, the White House said Friday, Kyodo News reported.
Photo Insert: JFK Airport, New York City
The announcement marks a shift from current bans limiting entry for non-U.S. citizens from China, Europe, and some other countries to a vaccine requirement for all foreign air travelers.
White House Assistant Press Secretary Kevin Munoz tweeted that the new policy will apply to both international air travel and land travel.
Travelers will not be required to quarantine upon entry into the United States. As the pandemic accelerated early last year, the United States essentially barred the entry of non-U.S. citizens if they had been in certain countries within the previous 14 days.
The countries were Brazil, Britain, China, India, Iran, Ireland, South Africa, and a group of European countries with open-border agreements, such as France, Germany, and Italy.
All air passengers entering the United States have also been required to get a virus test within three days prior to boarding U.S.-bound flights and provide written documentation of their laboratory test results to airlines.
European countries have been increasingly frustrated with the U.S. travel ban, which has remained in place even as more people have received shots.
The U.S. government said last month that, under the new rules, foreign nationals boarding U.S.-bound airplanes must show proof that they are fully vaccinated in addition to the existing requirement of testing negative for the novel coronavirus within three days prior to departure.