Here’s the problem: if you tell people they should not travel even with a vaccine, they are less likely to get vaccinated. Trust me, I’ve been speaking to the skeptics.
Lengthy “Do Not Travel” List Will Lead To More Vaccine Skepticism
I recently wrote a piece encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. It was geared toward skeptics and unsurprisingly led to an interesting discussion both on the blog and amongst friends and family who read it.
A common refrain: why should I get vaccinated if I cannot travel anyway?
It’s a reasonable question…a lot more reasonable to me, it seems, than the concerns over its efficacy or potential side effects. The short answer is still because you position yourself more likely to save yourself and others.
The U.S. State Department has not helped the cause of vaccination by updating its guidance to place about 80% of the world on its Level 4 “Do Not Travel” list. This list is simply a recommendation, not a travel ban, but it implicates business travel, insurance protection, and peace of mind.
Certainly, as COVID-19 cases surge in many parts of the world and are on the uptick again in the United States, there is risk to travel. But the “just a little bit longer” or “wait till we are vaccinated” excuse no longer seems to apply. Even though the U.S. Centers for Disease Control made crystal clear that vaccinations are highly effective in reducing both the contraction and spread of COVID-19, we seem to have conflicting language coming from the U.S. State Department (which it says “reflects an adjustment in the State Department’s Travel Advisory system to rely more on existing epidemiological assessments.”).
It is that inherently conflicting language, even if it can be squared away with a nuanced discussion, that increases skepticism amongst the very segment of society that need to be convinced in the first place.
Unfortunately, the United States has not published the methodology it has used to arrive at its travel warnings and many choices (such as assigning Zimbabwe a lower risk than Germany or Denmark) suggest a political calculation beyond an epidemiological one.
The result is unexpected and unfortunate: more skepticism, a disintegration in trust, and also a greater likelihood that people will just give up all precautions out of frustration and act in desperation or anger.
CONCLUSION
I don’t see bad motives underlying the latest “do not travel” advisory. Nevertheless, I see it as counterproductive to the mission of fighting to control COVID-19 by taking an approach that is simply no longer palatable to most people and also belied by explicit statements from other U.S. health officials.
It’s time to start tying financial incentives like stimulus checks or tax cuts to getting vaccinated and release the surplus supply of AstraZeneca jabs in the United States rather than scare people with vague travel warnings which have not been objectively explained. The sooner more are vaccinated (with an effective, non-Russian and Chinese vaccine), the sooner these travel warnings will no longer apply.
@Matthew — It is now too late for checks in exchange for a vaccine. The morons in Congress have missed that opportunity. They prefer the money for worthless stocks program instead.
“It’s time to start tying financial incentives like stimulus checks or tax cuts to getting vaccinated…”
Notwithstanding that your suggestion is likely unconstitutional, the fact that a normally rational person such as yourself is endorsing a full-on Chinese-style social credit system such as this is…disturbing to say the least.
“The short answer is still because you position yourself more likely to save yourself and others.”
Respectfully, you miss the point. Yes, travel is part of the equation, but it goes beyond than that. Fauci and Biden’s handlers continue on with “you can still get and transmit the virus when vaccinated” as the excuse for continuing to push double masking and business closures until someone in the politburo decides it’s safe for us to come out. A goalpost that continuously moves, I might add. If the government isn’t pushing the message that “you position yourself more likely to save yourself and others” by saying they’re not even sure the vaccines work, nor give any kind of metrics or timelines for dropping the hygiene theater, do you blame skeptics for their, well, skepticism?
Your last paragraph was precisely my point. Travel restrictions reasonably reduce confidence in the vaccine.
And I don’t think conditioning tax cuts or stimulus checks on vaccinations is a Chinese-style approach. Indeed, it’s less invasive than many New Deal-era tactics.
I also would not argue that the vaccine and what Fauci says about it are synonymous.
@MeanMeosh: More to the point, I know you don’t like Faucci, but what about the vaccine? (I know you received your first jab). How would you convince skeptics to get it?
Comrades, when are the “re-education ” camps opening?
Not surprising coming from someone that lives in his basement. The new mentality is to control people and their actions. Even if fully vaccinated your are told to stay home. There is a name for this.
@Santastico It’s called ‘New Science’ or ‘Faucism’
Step 1: Just make up stuff
Step 2: Scare everyone about everything.
Step 3: Media makes a ton of money on Panic Porn
Step 4; be wrong (but don’t admit it)
Repeat
It’s sort of like Neo-Racism now. Where, the best way to be ‘anti-racist’ is to segregate everyone based on their skin color.
I’m traveling full time internationally. Not vaccinated, no intention.
What is the incentive for me to do it? Why bother?
Zero trust left in government, or public health ‘experts’
Fauci ruined this for me, I’ve been vaccinated for everything else in life, but, I’m not bothering with this.
Screw him. What a monster.
Look, get vaccinated and go about your life. Nobody is saying you have to stay inside your house. However, international travel to places where vaccination rates are low and variants that could break through current vaccines remains a very real threat.
The US has more than enough mRNA vaccines to inoculate our own population. We should be dispersing excess vaccine pronto to help the rest of the world beat back the threat of emerging variants and get us to a point where we can travel internationally without worrying what we will bring back home to our friends and family.
@Adam L. : read the news (if you can trust what you read). Faucci said very clear: even if you are fully vaccinated you SHOULD NOT travel, dine indoors, go to theaters,… What else?
Get vaccinated and then get on with your life. I believe strongly in science, and it’s thanks to science that we were able to get a vaccine developed and distributed so quickly. But I too am tired of listening to Dr. Doom-and-Gloom (Fauci). Even the CDC has said that if you’re fully vaccinated, it’s safe to travel. After that, use common sense. Would I travel to the UK tonight? Absolutely. Would I travel to Brazil or India tonight? Absolutely not.
It does make sense to be vaccinated and stay home if Covid-19 is very prevalent in your state.
The same as travel if the destination has lots of Covid.
The vaccine maybe be like warm winter cloth coat. Protects you against a cold Boston night but in the Alaskan wilderness, you might still die of exposure but then maybe not. Or protects you against cold weather but can be defeated in a blizzard.
@AdamL, makes sense though US vaccination rates are still low and variants are developing in the US, like a California variant. US vaccination rates (24%, 40% have started the first dose) are far better than Canada (2%) but still not high.
Also, when hospitals are overwhelmed, you die. So it’s not good if you have a heart attack even if vaccinated because hospital staffing would be stretched too thin. Lower Covid rates help all.
@Santastico:
Doctors also say you shouldn’t drink, go out in the sun, exercise vigorously every day, don’t sit too long on the couch or at a computer, eat apples instead of beef, and to abstain from sex to totally prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. And those recommendations are all correct, even if the vast majority of the public doesn’t do all those things perfectly.
I agree we need more realistic talk about risk assessment and totally agree with ViaPamAm that we need to use a bit of common sense. Unfortunately it’s going to be snowflakes like George who keep us in this mess because they’re too stubborn or butthurt to get vaccinated.
My goodness, the greatest generation fought and died on foreign beaches, sacrificed and rationed for years so that they could get the world to a better place. What a sorry state of affairs that people can be so selfish and arrogant that they can’t undertake the simplest gesture and get a damn vaccine.
@ Adam L. You are correct on every point but ultimately still wrong. You miss the monkey in the room. It is not just the lunatic fringe the believes – actually, knows – public health officials have lied to them. Repeatedly. Over two administrations. When trust is gone logical doesn’t work. Team Biden had their window to rebuild trust. They kinda blew it.
“Faucism” has a nice ring to it, thanks guys. Meaning: Get vaccinated, then stay home/double mask/social distance anyway. Oh yeah, and 72hr covid tests forever to get anywhere. Every other damn country in the world is a level 4 so travel insurance is off the hook. Sweet.
@miamiorbust
Agreed but at this point there are only so many options: require vaccines to travel internationally (likely to happen anyway), social coercion (family and friends refusing to visit, for example), or just waiting for them to die out, which at this point is probably the likeliest scenario.
Venezuela is doing that very thing right now – mandating people stay home and even enforcing it with National Police checkpoints/roadblocks. freedom of movement is only for (supposedly) essential authorized by the regime errr, government. and the vaccine (chinese and russian) are only being made available to the military and members of the government. COVID provided a convenient way to control the populace for the regime.
If Germany opens for travel, even if they remain level 4, insurance companies will still cover it. If they whole world except Bhutan and Zimbabwe is under a “do not travel” recommendation, the travel insurance industry would cease to exist unless they revised their rules.
This is essentially the opposite of “if everyone’s elite, no one’s elite.” Most educated travelers never put too much stock in State Department warnings. Now I don’t know how anyone with a valid passport could even take them seriously.
If the U.S. government believes that all of these countries are not safe to travel, should the U.S. government continue to subsidize airlines that maintain routes that fly Americans to these unsafe destinations?
I have noticed that the same people I know who take these types of lists and pronouncements very seriously, and are waiting until COVID is 100% gone and the entire world vaccinated before they travel again are many of the same people I know who have an irrational fear of flying.
This is hillarious. The great majority of Americans don’t travel anywhere outside the US.
The only people who care about these lists are the minority that travel, hopefully we are smart enough to get a vaccine and use common sense when we plan a trip.
Facts are facts, folks. Vaccines are effective and easy go get. We still don’t know whether vaccinated people can spread the virus, though we should have data on that soon. Meanwhile, the reasonable thing is to play it safe. I have had a relative die of the virus and know many who have recovered, some with “long-haul” symptoms. It is not just a “strong flu.” It is serious business and it kills people. To think otherwise is to fall into some kind of delusion.
Look folks, the State Department is simply following the science here. So you’re upset you can’t travel internationally now? C’mon, man. You can go to Bhutan.
Hope all the Demented Joe voters are happy.. More controls and many more taxes coming our way thanks Joe voters….. we are in for 4 years of spend spend spend and tax tax tax with NO results….
Just read how the vaccine is not fullproof. An outbreak in a Kentucky nursing home. 83 nursing home residents, 26 of them positive but of those 26, 18 were fully vaccinated. 20 staff were Covid positive and 4 of those were vaccinated.
Possibility: the vaccine was sitting out too long or too hot and it lost potency. On average, it may be 90-95% effective but in a small population, it could dip to 75% effective.
For you or me, it’s 100% or 0%, meaning it is possible, but unlikely, that we can get the shot and get no protection.
Therefore, caution is wise.
Source of data: https://www.yahoo.com/news/18-fully-vaccinated-residents-caught-142806305.html
How 18 fully vaccinated residents caught COVID-19 in a KY nursing home. One died.
Sad story. If the vaccines are not fully effective, then we have to get back to work, shelter the vulnerable, and accept the increased risk of living life. I hope it was just old or spoiled vaccine, though.
@dee – good lord you are dumb, you are not a corporation (who will have taxes raised SLIGHTLY after having them MASSIVELY cut) in order to pay for long overdue infrastructure work (you know, the sh!t your boy didn’t get done in his 4 years (besides inflate the deficit) even though he had Infrastructure Week every other month)