US May Require Vaccine Mandate on Domestic Flights

With the holiday travel season rapidly approaching, US lawmakers are pushing the federal government to require proof of full vaccination or a negative coronavirus test to board domestic flights.

A United States Senator and 35 members of the House of Representatives have sent a letter to President Joe Biden, asking him to implement a mandate that all domestic airline passengers provide proof of vaccination or a negative test against COVID-19 in order to fly.

Lawmakers said the additional travel restrictions would “ensure Americans can travel safely to see their loved ones during the holidays while also limiting household introduction and spread of COVID-19 from visiting family and friends,” according to a letter sent to President Joe Biden.

The push for more mandates comes less than a week after the United States updated its entry requirements for international air travel.

The lawmakers said extending vaccine and testing mandates to domestic air travel would boost Americans' confidence in travel and help the country's tourism and hospitality industries recover, and argued that it would improve public health by pressuring more travellers to get vaccinated.

Canada has mandated vaccines for all forms of transportation, and the US has adopted a vaccine requirement for international air travellers coming to the United States since restrictions were lifted on 8 November.

Boost Confidence in Travel

The letter dated on Thursday and published into the record on 12 November, cites polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which published a survey in May that found about four in ten respondents who said they wanted to wait and see how the vaccine works for other people before getting vaccinated themselves would be more likely to get the shot if it was required to fly on an aeroplane.

The letter also asks that the safety protocols on trains and other modes of public transportation continue to be updated to reflect new data on how to curb the spread of the virus.

This is a necessary and long overdue step toward ensuring all Americans feel safe and confident while travelling and reduce the chances of yet another devastating winter surge.

The partisan letter was signed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and 35 Members of the House of Representatives. This isn’t the first time lawmakers have tried to add more stringent safety protocols for domestic flights.

Throughout much of the pandemic, US airline executives and airline union leaders argued that any additional COVID-19 restrictions for domestic flyers would be bad for business, resulting in fewer people willing to fly, and ultimately putting jobs at risk.

However, multiple surveys suggest that majority of the public is on board with vaccine mandate on flights, including a recent Harris Poll revealing nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) support introducing a vaccine passport for domestic flights, with those who “strongly support” such an initiative outnumbering those who “somewhat support” it by more than two to one.

In addition, the airline industry is already verifying COVID-19 credentials for international travellers.

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