International travel and Covid 19

[Quagmire1974]

Japan creates digital vaccine passport:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/japa...143126893.html

Biden Administration says vaccine passport creation up to private sector:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-hou...171028946.html

Lengthier story regarding Biden Administration and private sector vaccine passport creation:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-hou...204553408.html

Tips regarding care of COVID vaccination card:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/do...?siteid=yhoof2

Caution against laminating COVID vaccination cards:

https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/vac...n-ts/19602848/

Thailand opens Phuket for fully vaccinated travelers:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/vacc...163027774.html

[Quagmire1974]

COVID vaccinations beginning in Uzbekistan on April 1:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/uzbekista...064007517.html

COVID vaccinations in Hong Kong creeping along at a snail's pace:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hong-kong...032346627.html

COVID on the rampage in Brazil; Neighboring countries worried:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/alarm-bel...101803341.html

COVID variants quickly spreading through central and eastern Europe:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pandemic-...154218902.html

Fresh restrictions in Iceland due to COVID variant:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/icela...142353077.html

Brazil COVID variant spreads through Peru:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/peru-prob...223116567.html

Caribbean nations request COVID vaccine help from Biden Administration:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/caribbean...185413170.html

Virgin Atlantic partners with TrustAssure to create digital travel "health pass:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/virg...112921722.html

United Kingdom already discussing COVID booster shots:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive...205453613.html

First-hand account of an American who traveled to Iceland recently:

https://www.businessinsider.com/icel...ntering-2021-3

Mexico COVID "stoplight map" continues to improve:

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/cor...arting-monday/

Airline travel credits extended into 2022 for several airlines:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/airlines-...124500525.html

[Quagmire1974]

COVID one of several factors for population decline in Russia:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/people-di...131834351.html

China considering tailoring visas for countries based on their COVID situation:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-ste...093815514.html

Portugal primed for tourism due to fast pace of vaccinations:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/8-re...101840216.html

CommonPass pairs with JetBlue for Aruba tourism:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...ound-For-Aruba

Jamaica receives COVID vaccine from Covax; 15 other Caribbean countries will, too:

https://www.paho.org/en/news/15-3-20...-through-covax

Cuba developing several "homegrown" COVID vaccines:

https://www.reuters.com/article/heal...-idINKBN2BB0KL

European Union shuns Russia "Sputnik 5" vaccine:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/eus-breto...193919845.html

Timeline for United Kingdom return to travel and tourism:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/european-...195404491.html

Fresh lockdowns in Germany due to COVID surge:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/german-co...104551473.html

Confusion over whether United States will supply Brazil with surplus COVID vaccine:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/brazil-ta...172433073.html

[Quagmire1974]

COVID spike, new lockdowns, and bungled vaccine rollout threaten summer travel for Europe:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/analysis-...164915244.html

Information regarding lockdowns in various European countries:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/italy-loc...140023306.html

Caribbean cruises returning in June:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/celebrity...172826880.html

Thailand shortens mandatory quarantine period for visitors:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thail...045940235.html

Massive surge in travel by Americans anticipated; Beaches, Mexico, and Caribbean favored:

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/reven...161747319.html

"Digital passports" with COVID vaccination and test results tested:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/airlines-...125856292.html

United States, United Kingdom, and Israel winning the vaccination race; "Fourth wave" of COVID menacing remainder of world:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/covid-vac...090020655.html

Biden Administration suggesting international travel restrictions to be adjusted in middle of May:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/bide...142003920.html

[Quagmire1974]

Vietnam could allow tourists beginning in July; Updates on Thailand and Indonesia, too:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/visi...094734787.html

Vietnam developing "homegrown" COVID vaccines in addition to buying others:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/vietnam-s...051332460.html

Kazakhstan hits "pause button" on AstraZeneca COVID vaccine due to reported side effects:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/kazakhsta...122504467.html

Biden Administration loans 4 million AstraZeneca COVID vaccine doses to Canada and Mexico:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-send-mi...161919018.html

[The Cane]

Something like this is probably in our futures: https://apple.news/Ahdi4FXZjQ1iQx9uD17cegA.

[ShoesAndSocks]

I think what you're going to see from now through the end of 2021 is a few select areas opening or remaining open for tourism while larger areas (Europe) remain closed.

It will be interesting to see how travel "bubbles" evolve between countries.

Australia and NZ have been trying it stop-start for a while now (easy between two island nations where Covid is practically eliminated), and now Singapore wants "in" as well.
How will they manage this in an international travel hub like Changi Airport? Allocate say Terminal 1 to the bubble so only Aussies, Kiwis and locals can come & go as well as enter Singapore?
If this works OK, I can see other countries like Japan, South Korea, Thailand, etc. being very eager to join the party.

But Europe, with its open borders - how would an EU country be able to join into such a bubble?

[Quagmire1974]

Europe is definitely moving in the wrong direction. I stick with my projection that international travel doesn't return strong until 2022.

And it may even be later than 2022. From Bloomberg:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...verseas-travel

I think what you're going to see from now through the end of 2021 is a few select areas opening or remaining open for tourism while larger areas (Europe) remain closed. Mexico, Dominican Republic, and certain Caribbean islands (Aruba) are all on my travel radar right now. We still have 9 and a half months of 2021 left, so we'll see what happens. But I definitely have a lot more optimism now than I did a year ago.

[The Cane]

Chaos in Europe regarding AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. Vaccination schedule thrown into doubt:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/merkels-g...115706682.html

Europe is definitely moving in the wrong direction. I stick with my projection that international travel doesn't return strong until 2022.

[Quagmire1974]

"Vaccine passports" discussed by Biden Administration:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/vaccine-p...001424782.html

Protests in Paraguay over COVID spike and slow vaccine arrival:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN2B7023

Increasing number of cruise ship operators requiring vaccine for cruises:

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/p...001421769.html

Turkey to allow British travelers; Vaccine certificate not required:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/you-...134634544.html

COVID's effect on Latina America tourism:

https://www.as-coa.org/articles/covi...-long-recovery

[Quagmire1974]

Chaos in Europe regarding AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. Vaccination schedule thrown into doubt:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/merkels-g...115706682.html

[Quagmire1974]

Fully-vaccinated travelers welcome to visit Belize:

https://www.travelandleisure.com/tra...out-covid-test

Mexico COVID "stoplight map" steadily improving:

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/son...irus-risk-map/

British Airways gives "thumbs down" to vaccine as requirement for air travel:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/travel-vac...005443292.html

European Union rolling out "vaccine passport" for travelers:

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/tr...cine-passport/

Biden Administration asked to develop "vaccine passport" for Americans:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-v...l-development/

Increasing number of countries allowing fully-vaccinated travelers:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/count...re-vaccinated/

On a side note, I recently received the first dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine. I was able to get it through my doctor's office, so I didn't have to go through one of the "big box" national pharmacies or a FEMA vaccination site or stand for hours in any ridiculous lines.

For what it's worth, I made sure that the name and date of birth written on my COVID vaccination card exactly matched what's in my passport. I also requested that the nurse enter my full name in the online vaccination registry. I took those actions because I read on TripAdvisor recently that some travelers heading overseas were denied boarding because the name on their negative COVID test did not exactly match the name in their passport. I don't have proof that travelers will be denied boarding if the name on their vaccination card doesn't match what's in their passport, but I decided not to take the chance.

[Artisttyp]

Anyone "UP" for a trip to China?

https://nypost.com/2021/03/03/china-...or-foreigners/

[Zeos1]

I'm not deleting any of the current posts, to be honest I find them interesting and have commented myself on at least one of them. But lets try to find, and share, information to help us to find where we can travel, and what the restrictions and / or opportunities may be.

I'm really hoping that some of the restrictions that I face where I live (basically no international travel is tolerated) will be reduced by the time I have my vaccine and the appropriate time after. But I'm not sure that is going to happen.

[GeneHickman]

The premise was to make things faster and easier. Read from the following sentence: 'This trial and its preliminary report have several limitations'.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2034577

To make things easier and faster, in my opinion, the malady should be viewed as a malady only, three times more dangerous than a flu. Every other response is nonsense. Reminds me of a stupid leftist comment that 'half of a bridge is better than no bridge at all'.

Data out of Israel in real world where they have mostly given Pfizer BioNtech is showing 90% protection v getting the disease, with over 80% being the much ballyhooed British variant, and a 99% improvement in death (including the old frails) and negligible transmission and certainly no more than the false negativity rate of the stupid tests we have. So why the heck are we not immediately using vaccine passports? We are acting like bumbling idiots with this thing, and ideology is at work. Not science. Fauci is talking about masks in 2022 today! Can you beleive that shit? My prediction, We will be having single digit thousands of cases and 100-200 deaths a day by mid April this year. What we will see is small outbreaks in areas yet to have had widespread disease. Our gov't should be working on mobile vaccination vans for such developments right now. And on an updated vaccine for 2022. As far as national disease burden is concerned, we will be looking at a very different situation in April. Mostly via innate immunity from the 1/3 or so people that I think have got exposure to the disease already augmented by the currently 13% who have got a shot, that number will be closer 25% by then. 35+25 =60% but adjusting for the infected who got vaccinated, At those levels where perhaps ~1/2 the population has some sort of immunity, the spread will be minimal even if we aren't quite at herd. The countries that really have te be cautious are those that have had minimal disease burden to date and yet to be fully vaccinated, like Australia and NZ and other Asian Countries.