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08th Nov 2021

US travel to resume for fully vaccinated

Katy Brennan

The strict travel ban had been in place since March 2020.

The United States will resume admission to fully vaccinated travellers from Ireland and several other countries from Monday.

Restrictions introduced nearly two years ago by former US President Donald Trump had banned entry to non-US citizens who had been in Ireland or other countries over the past 14 days.

The news is expected to bring a much-welcome boost to airlines that are heavily dependant on transatlantic travel, such as AerLingus.

Last week, the airline’s Chief Executive Lynne Embleton, said every seat on its flights to the US today had been sold.

Travel agents have also welcomed the lifting of restrictions with the Irish Travel Agents Association President, Paul Hackett, saying higher bookings are already being seen on the routes.

As well as this, inbound tourism operators have said the news should also help promote visits into Ireland.

While travel from the United States to Europe has been possible since the summer, non-US residents holding certain visas have had no guarantee of being able to re-enter the country. The lifting the travel restrictions now means people travelling from more than 30 countries can enter.

US authorities have said they plan to closely monitor the vaccination status of travellers and will require negative Covid tests from those wishing to enter the country.Air passengers will need to be fully vaccinated and be tested within three days before travel.

Airlines will also be required to put a contact tracing system in place.

All vaccines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization will be accepted for entry at airports.

This includes the AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Covaxin, Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.