THE World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has warned the restart of international travel could be “seriously delayed” without worldwide reciprocal recognition of all approved Covid-19 vaccines.
The warning comes amid reports of tourists being blocked at borders because they have the ‘wrong’ vaccine batches or ‘unrecognised’ vaccines, due to countries not having an internationally accepted list of approved Covid vaccines.
The global tourism body said that over the past few weeks there have been growing reports of holidaymakers facing obstacles to entry, with some even stopped from boarding their flights to foreign destinations.
According to WTTC, these incidents are still happening despite most vaccines having secured the approval of the World Health Organisation (WHO) or Stringent Regulatory Authorities (SRAs) such as the UK’s the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Food and Drug Administration in the US, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
“Reciprocal recognition of all vaccine types and batches is essential if we are to avoid any further unnecessary and damaging delay to restarting international travel,” said Virginia Messina, senior vice president of WTTC.
“The failure of countries to agree on a common list of all approved and recognised vaccines is of huge concern to WTTC, as we know every day travel is curbed more cash-strapped travel & tourism businesses face even greater strain, pushing ever more to the brink of bankruptcy.
“We can avoid this by having a fully recognised list of all the approved vaccines – and vaccine batches – which should be the key to unlocking international travel, not the door to preventing it.”
She added that holidaymakers and travellers then would have the confidence to book trips, flights and cruises, “confident in the knowledge that their fully-vaccinated status will be internationally recognised.”
WTTC’s plea for reciprocal recognition for all vaccines and vaccine batches forms part of its four guidelines to safely restore international travel. They include a combination of Covid-19 testing, vaccination, digital health travel passes and the use of health and safety protocols such as wearing face masks.
The guidelines call for reduced protocols for vaccinated travellers including no testing or quarantine for those fully vaccinated; data driven, risk-based and harmonised approach to re-establish freedom of movement; global adoption of digital health passes; and implementation of high quality health and safety standards.
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