Travel Vaccine News

The Israeli Health Ministry will likely recommend extending airport restrictions beyond March 20, 2021, Director-General Chezy Levi told the Jerusalem Post.
Levi stated, “On the one hand, everyone would like the skies to be open, to be able to travel, and so on. On the other hand, the (coronavirus) mutations are at large globally, and some of them greatly challenge the vaccine. We, therefore, want to limit people leaving and entering Israel.’
On March 11, 2021, the Government of Israel published an extensive update to its travel procedures. 

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency announced the implementation of Simplified Arrival at the international bridges within the Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry in south Texas.
Simplified Arrival, an enhanced international arrival process that uses facial biometrics to automate the manual document checks that are already required for admission into the USA.

In a recent paper, researchers were able to quantify preventive mass vaccination campaigns (PMVC) to reduce yellow fever outbreaks at the province level using the self-controlled case series (SCCS) method.
During this study period, an estimated 22% to 45% of outbreaks were averted by PMVCs in Africa.
Moreover, this study published by PLOS on February 18, 2021, observed a puzzling U-shaped association between vaccination coverage and the risk of an outbreak in the cohort analysis. 

The current influenza surveillance data should be interpreted with caution, says the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO announced on March 1, 2021, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has influenced to varying extents health-seeking behaviors globally. The various hygiene and physical distancing measures implemented to reduce the spreading of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus have likely played a role in reducing influenza virus transmission.

Traveling to the USA from certain African countries now requires additional public health interventions.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on February 24, 2021, the U.S. government will funnel travelers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Guinea to six U.S. airports.
The CDC will institute public health measures related to outbreaks of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Africa.

As Ebola immunization scales up in Guinea, the country’s African neighboring nations are on high alert, urgently preparing to detect, isolate and manage any cases and quickly stamp out potential cross-border outbreaks, says the World Health Organization (WHO).
All six nations bordering Guinea are finalizing their national preparedness and readiness operational plans according to a WHO readiness assessment tool. The overall state of readiness in these west African countries is nearly 66% which is still lower than the benchmark of 80%.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the Republic of El Salvador became the first country in Central America was awarded a certification of malaria elimination. 
The WHO certification announced on February 25, 2021, follows more than 50 years of commitment by the Salvadoran government to ending the disease in a country hospitable to malaria.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced it is launching recruitment efforts nationwide to fill over 6,000 Transportation Security Officer (TSO) positions by the Summer of 2021.
Based on anticipated seasonal travel trends in the months ahead and the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations for the general public, TSA has launched national efforts to recruit new employees in support of screening operations at approximately 430 airports nationwide.

Ebola vaccination of people at high risk in Guinea launched as an emergency response was escalated, said the World Health Organization (WHO).
The new vaccination program is to counter the spread of the Ebola virus that re-emerged in Guinea’s western Africa country for the first time since 2016.
The vaccination campaign was launched in Gouecke, a rural community in N’Zerekore prefecture, where the first cases were detected on February 14, 2021. N’Zerekore is Guinea’s second-largest city and is close to the border with Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire.

American Airlines is the first U.S. airline to introduce an easy way to provide results from a negative COVID-19 test and other completed documents required for international travel. 
American’s mobile health passport VeriFLY app helps customers understand and verify their travel requirements, which will be available for travelers starting January 23, 2021, for travel from all international destinations to the USA.