Hotcat1970

So, thought I'd chip in with my 2 cents reading this from SIN.
Whilst Boris et al may pronounce 'you can go on holiday' or in some other form lifts international travel restrictions, that does not translate to other countries allowing UK residents to enter. Assuming the majority of UK residents are vaccinated, one would imagine this may be cause for other countries to re assess entry to UK residents, however the practice of waiting up to 12 weeks between 1st and subsequent injection raises a question of whether any UK vaccinations are valid, the gap between the 2 jabs being outwit the manufacturers recommendation on timescale of 21 days.
Mrs Hotcat works for the Singapore government health ministry and the view there is that a UK vaccination with a gap between the 2 jabs that's longer than 21 days is 'not valid', and won't be accepted as being vaccinated at all for purposes of entry here.

BingBongBoy

In terms of personal travel, I am not planning anything in 2021... I just can't keep moving things around when stuff is cancelled or changed, despite really needing a holiday after a crappy year of work, losing my dad and just in general the same stress as everyone else with the lockdowns etc.

In terms of work... My work travel has never stopped due to nature of work, it has just become more complicated and a hassle... So, I am hoping when things get going more with vaccinations and stuff, it will just get easier.

In general, as others have said, I think it will be a case of when, not if, that business travel resumes. Video conferencing has its limits, and it is were to have been such an amazing way to do things, then business travel would have faltered a long time ago, since video calling became a lot better.

drvannostren

Totally speculative but I'll say in the form we think of it, yes.

I think this year will be full of "border closed new variant", "no entry without vaccine", quarantine regs etc. Everything will be a moving target, so while it looks promising one day, it might be completely different the next. We're already dealing with that now, and people being "stuck" abroad being told they need PCR tests when they didn't upon departure. It'll be lots of that imo. That said, I do think more borders will open and that more and more will allow entry if vaccinated.

All I can hope for is this to end fast.

dylanks

Sorry to hear about you Dad.

In terms of Video calls, they work well when everyone is stuck at home, rather than when some people try to take the call from the car or an airport or a loud office. I’ve been working primarily from home for 15 years now and while the tech has improved, it’s also that people are not trying to take calls from environments where they cannot focus.

I actually travelled from the US to Belgrade via London in November which was my first set of flights since February 2020. It happened after approximately 20 rebookings/cancellations. With airplanes at about 20% capacity it felt relatively safe, but I cannot imagine flying on a full aircraft at the moment. The extra connection with no BA flights to PHX and needing to leave a buffer for a separate ticket on Air Serbia wasn’t ideal but BA haven’t flown to Belgrade in many years.

I should have both doses of the vaccine in March, so I’m hoping to take 3-4 business trips this year, but we’ll see what happens. If I do travel for work it will involve renting a large Airbnb for a couple of weeks at a destination and primarily working from there with 1-2 colleagues for things that are difficult to achieve remotely.

As soon as it’s safe to travel more broadly I’m planning an all summer trip with my family to Europe and the UK (2022 hopefully). We have two more summers before our oldest daughter finishes high school so we’re hoping for one more family trip before she had legitimate excuses to avoid joining us.

13901

This is an interesting point. I was speaking with my Icelandic colleagues a couple of days ago and, in passing, mentioned that I'd love to return to Iceland if travel allows. They mentioned that, because of the long interval between jabs that only the UK has implemented, the vaccines aren't considered as being delivered "properly" and therefore wouldn't be allowed as reason to skip the quarantine. I don't know what truth is in there, I haven't checked yet (I'm third-to-last in the vaccination queue...) but if it's correct that would be a bit of a spanner in the works.

EDIT: It appears to be true, from the Icelandic Directorate of Health:

https://www.landlaeknir.is/um-embaet...-at-the-border

KSVVZ2015

I imagine once the data lands that hopefully shows effectiveness with the UK approach, countries will back off this stance.

Also, it would seem that some European countries are increasing spacing somewhat? Even if not to 12 weeks (C-W-S seems to suggest the UK will really hit a 9-10 week interval anyways).

HB7

I've been fearful that the 12-week apart strategy in the UK would not work, but I'm no scientist or doctor, so I thought ok, we'll see.

Seeing other countries now saying they won't allow us in however, even if we have had both vaccines is definitely not great news, probably more depressing than anything, because you will wonder how many countries will do this.

13901

The thing is that the UK is the only country doing this... with neither the producers nor other authorities having tested for it, or recommended it. I'm hoping that the bet pays off and that, once things get better, the span shortens back to the suppliers' recommendated interval.

Right now it seems to be only Iceland, but it's also the only country I checked...

Gastrocnemius

Not quite true- there is evidence for doing this with the AZ vaccine, but not Pfizer

Confus

With the news this morning that the UK authorities have allowed the 12 week delay to be shortened in some circumstances, it’s looking more likely that they will be the ones changing their mind, rather than the other countries. Either way though, a positive sign that alignment is (slowly) getting closer.

PeaSouper

I feel whether or not travel is a “write-off” depends on how badly you want to travel and where you want to go. If you’re not willing to have PCR tests, not willing or able to take the time to quarantine or self-isolate, or only want to travel to Australia or NZ, then yeah, 2021 is probably out for you.

I’ve travelled twice in the last couple of months, and took five tests in total, and had to self-isolate after my return from the US. I don’t feel like these paths will get more difficult throughout 2021, but they may not get any easier either. So from my perspective, I don’t feel like 2021 international travel is a write-off. I feel pretty good that most of the trips I have planned for this year will happen, but I have a high tolerance for having to put up with tests and isolations to make the trips happen.

Richmond_Surrey

I don't plan to fly anywhere in 2021. Pacific countries will be closed for couple of years, USA who knows, etc. Beach holiday are no interest to me. I'm only interested in road trips to the Alps, as I do annually. I didn't take any test so far and don't plan to.

In the meantime, my Global Entry will expire (and my passport too), so I will have to apply again and do interview.

T8191

It would seem we have unveiled a further obstacle to travel. As JE generally follows UK practices, I received this in an email immediately after my Pfizer vaccination on Saturday ...

KARFA

For the AZ vaccine it was explicitly approved in the UK on the basis of a second does anywhere between 4-12 weeks. I know it is not the one highlighted above, but it is worth mentioning. The EMA has done the same in their approval.

The Pfizer vaccines was approved in the UK on the basis of a second does no sooner than 21 days after, there was no maximum in the authorisation beyond that. Again the EMA authorisation was the same. The concern is that stretching the second dose for Pfizer to 12 weeks may being going beyond what has been proved in the efficacy studies. It is a legitimate question, but it would be extremely surprising based on all the scientific knowledge on vaccines if giving a second dose at 12 weeks didn't act to boost the protection up to the 80-95% range - studies were done at 42 days but not right out at 12 weeks. Also the vaccine does already give over 50% protection (I think the figure I saw was about 52%) just on the first vaccine, that isn't lost even if you were not to have a second vaccine at all.

All the talk of the UK being treated as a live laboratory, or taking crazy risks is just nonsense tbh. I notice there are calls in the US now to move to 12 week gaps too.

13901

Pfizer was on record in saying they did not test for efficiency for a period as long as the one done in the UK. I'm not going to go down to the level of the trashy tabloids, and I hope that nothing bad comes out of the UK's decision and that everything is fine and dandy but... for the time being no other country is delaying the second dose for as long as the UK is and, again for the time being, Iceland (which is the only country I was referring to, and might as well change their guidance tomorrow) is saying that they will recognise vaccination as an 'excuse' not to go into quarantine in the following cases for the Pfizer vaccine.