catocony

Think about it. If there's currently no central CDC database for vaccinations like measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, diphtheria, whooping cough, etc - or even annual flu shots and for older people, polio and smallpox vaccines - they're not going to develop one if the next 6 months just for COVID. It won't happen. The process would take years to implement.

People aren't getting vaccinated so they can go on a vacation. They're getting vaccinated so they don't get sick and die. International travel is not a factor in vaccination plans, at least not in the US.

Doppy

True, but the vague notion of saving money in the future isn't as immediate in people's faces as being prevented/allowed to do things that they want, like travel. Just as a data point, Caribbean cruises may restart in June with proof of vaccination required for adults (children must show negative test):

https://www.axios.com/cruise-liners-...93481cf4c.html

True, but we did get "Real ID." Of course that has taken forever to implement in some states.

Yes, LA County has a deal with Healthvana to track vaccination status and provide digital proof. Doesn't really help the other 99% of the US population though.

exp

I think travel can't be underestimated.

US is a big country so American tourist destinations can survive mostly on US tourists. But they probably want international tourists too. Especially with the dollar much lower now than it was the year before the pandemic started in Feb/March 2020.

All those CA shops selling souvenirs to busloads of Asian tourists or FL and NY hosting all those Europeans on shopping sprees.

lobo411

Not to mention the airlines, which can't survive without international flights or heavy government subsidies. I imagine the US government isn't the only one that's tired of paying its airlines not to fly.

gojko88

I got vaccinated with Astra Zeneca this morning for the express purpose of being able to travel hassle-free within Europe this upcoming summer. I'm young and healthy and not worried about getting infected by COVID at all, but the freedom to travel (or lack thereof) has a very direct impact on my quality of life as an expat whose family is back home.

By the way, I was slated for the Chinese vaccine (easiest to get in Serbia), but I switched to Astra Zeneca for its EU-verification status. In a poll run a few days ago by Serbia's biggest travel website, 23.000 people said they would only consider receiving an EU-approved vaccine regardless of health implications, in order to regain the ability to cross borders (without expensive PCR tests each way) in line with the latest info from the EU Commission. This was about 30% of the total number of respondents.

I'm sure there are millions of people around the world to whom meaningless travel restrictions and unsuccessful lockdowns have dealt a much harder blow than the virus with a mortality of 1% at worst. Especially considering that international travellers tend to be more educated, better informed and more responsible that anti-vaxxers and COVID-deniers throwing parties for dozens of like-minded people every weekend.

PxC

Seconded, and I’d say this is what drives the others in my 30’s age group who want to be vaccinated.

catocony

Again, the United States does not have a centralized healthcare system. It doesn't. It would literally take years and 10s of billions of dollars to create a system and that isn't going to be done for COVID. If it hasn't already been created for the hundreds of millions of people who have had childhood vaccinations and such, it won't be created for this virus. I doubt if many states would even go along with it. Europeans, I guess you can gripe about whatever restrictions some European countries might have, but this should be a reminder that each country is still, in fact, a sovereign nation which can and will make up their own decisions on trans-border travel.

lobo411

From what I've seen, getting a CDC card in a timely manner for travel purposes is high on the list of post-EUA concerns for the folks in the covid vaccine clinical trial group I'm part of.

LostInAmerica

WRONG!
If my intent was to isolate myself and become a hermit, then a vaccine is of little benefit. But, I want to resume my exploration of the world.
I have received shot #1 and have #2 scheduled. As soon as countries can get their act together and open borders to allow international travel, I am ready to go!

GUWonder

Getting vaccinated on anticipation that the vaccination enables the ability to go on vacation -- or even at times to get a visa for whatever purpose -- is neither new nor dead across the board. People get vaccinated for a multitude of reasons historically and even now when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccines. In some ways, getting vaccinated in the hopes that it facilitates travel is now more popular than ever with people in higher-income countries who have never before needed a vaccine to travel to the places where they've gone or are likely to go in the years ahead.

the810

Not when it comes to EU member states. They indeed are sovereign nations but they have decided to join the European Union and therefore are bound by the European law. It gives some leeway and there is also an utter lack of its enforcement these days, but nevertheless, EU states can't just make whatever rules they want. TFEU is very clear on that. Freedom of movement is the single most important right one gets based on being an EU citizen.

corporate-wage-slave

​​​​​​I was vaccinating inmates in a prison a few days ago. Several of them said they hoped getting vaccinated would allow them to go on holiday overseas soon!

FallenPlat

After reading just about everything available on vaccine "passports" or certificates for travel in the EU, it now looks to me as though there's little chance for entry by US residents anytime much before 2022 (maybe give or take Greece and one or two other southern destinations). In other words, I don't think Iceland's friendly acceptance of CDC cards -- the flaws of which are well known -- is going to happen in places like France and Germany anytime soon, if ever.

Like others up-thread, I would've thought that a simple "yellow card" approach (perhaps digitized?), which has obtained internationally for the better part of a century now, would somehow mean something more than it apparently does. How can decades of proven success with smallpox and other vaccinations simply be ignored, even by the WHO itself?

If anyone has any greater insight into the US-EU/UK travel aspects here, please post!

catocony

Like all social media sites, the regular posters are not indicative of the population in general. If you guys want to hold up vaccinations for a few years until the whole visa system is developed, good luck in selling that to the average person. For the US, it's a relatively small percentage of people who travel internationally regularly except for land hops to Canada and Mexico. You're not going to convince states like Oklahoma and Kentucky and Mississippi to opt in to a federal database, even if one were to be developed. It won't happen. So, from a US perspective, linking health records to passports is simply a non-starter. If the tradeoff of not having a database means you have to wait six months or a year to travel to Europe, 95% of Americans are going to say thats fine.

the810

I assume most travel restrictions will be gone by the end of 2021. EU should reach the herd immunity (vaccinations + natural immunity) by the autumn, possibly even summer, and at that point there will be no need to restrict travel as hospitals won't have any major problems with capacity.

I don't see CDC cards being accepted in the EU, but I also don't expect vaccinations to be required for a very long time.