Airplane (illustrative)
Airplane (illustrative)Flash 90

Foreign nationals flying to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated and must show proof of vaccination before boarding an airplane to the U.S., White House COVID coordinator Jeff Zients announced on Monday.

The Biden administration will require vaccinations against COVID-19 and contact tracing for international visitors to the country as part of a change to current general restrictions against many foreign travellers entering the country, USA Today reported.

Zients said that the current travel restrictions will continue until the new measures are put in place.

Speaking to an advisory panel that works on travel and domestic tourism issues for Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Zients explained that the new system will involve a central role for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“We will also be putting in place contact tracing to enable CDC to follow up with inbound international travelers and those around them if someone has potentially been exposed to COVID-19," he said.

Current American travel restrictions bar most non-Americans who have previously traveled to China, India, Brazil, many European countries and the United Kingdom in the last two weeks.