California Senator Dianne Feinstein (D) on Wednesday introduced a bill that was going to require all air travelers to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or test negative for the illness before they engage in any domestic air travel, according to WPI-TV.
The Details
The bill is called the U.S. Air Travel Public Safety Act, and it would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to work in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration in order to develop an industry-wide standard for airlines to verify whether passengers have either been fully vaccinated for the coronavirus or have tested negative for it.
In a statement regarding the bill, Feinstein said, “We know that air travel during the 2020 holiday season contributed to last winter’s devastating COVID-19 surge. We simply cannot allow that to happen again.”
“Ensuring that air travelers protect themselves and their destination communities from this disease is critical to prevent the next surge, particularly if we confront new, more virulent variants of COVID-19,” she continued. “This bill complements similar travel requirements already in place for all air passengers — including Americans — who fly to the United States from foreign countries. This includes flights from foreign countries with lower COVID-19 rates than many U.S. states.”
She concluded, “It only makes sense that we also ensure the millions of airline passengers that crisscross our country aren’t contributing to further transmission, especially as young children remain ineligible to be vaccinated.”
Infectious Diseases Society of America President Dr. Barbara D. Alexander was in support of the legislation, and she said, “Vaccination is a critical strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccination requirements in multiple settings are an important mechanism to boost vaccination rates, prevent infections and hospitalizations and save lives. The Infectious Diseases Society of America supports Senator Feinstein’s legislation to require vaccination for domestic air travel as part of our nation’s broader COVID-19 vaccination strategy.”
At the time of this reporting, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do require that all airline passengers that are traveling to foreign countries either test negative for COVID-19 or provide proof that they recovered from COVID. Add to this the fact that earlier this month President Joe Biden said that all foreign visitors should show proof that they have been vaccinated against coronavirus before they travel, and you have a fairly restrictive environment for air travel indeed.
On Wednesday, Feinstein tweeted, “We can’t allow upcoming holiday air travel to contribute to another surge in COVID cases. Today I introduced legislation requiring passengers on domestic flights to be vaccinated, test negative, or be fully recovered from a previous COVID illness.”
The Democrats are still working overtime to take away our rights, that is for sure.