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October 15, 2021

Dear John xxxxxx,

With the news today that fully vaccinated international travelers will be able to enter the United States beginning November 8, the U.S. government joins other countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom, in loosening COVID-19-era travel restrictions.

As advanced economies grow their vaccine rollout and work to safely reopen, these moves have been anticipated. But, as Meghan Benton notes in a commentary for the Migration Policy Institute's International Program, these measures represent a subtle shift towards vaccination mandates for international travel, and could shape the future of global mobility.

While calling the end of the U.S. pandemic travel restrictions "long overdue," the commentary notes that vaccination mandates raise a range of equity and other considerations that must be addressed if the stated goal of facilitating safe travel in the age of pandemic is to be achieved.

"Clearly, vaccination requirements make for safer travel and help incentivize vaccination, but there are huge equity issues," writes Benton, who is Director of Research for the International Program and MPI Europe. "Moreover, it is likely that the actions of the United States and European Union will set the standard for how other countries respond and these requirements could further cleave a wedge between movers and non-movers."

You can read the commentary here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/us-vaccination-requirements-shape-future-mobility.

And in a new episode this week for her Moving Beyond Pandemic podcast, Benton speaks with Kelley Lee, head of the Pandemics and Borders initiative at Canada's Simon Fraser University, about the still-contested role of travel restrictions as a public health tool. (Podcast available wherever you get audio or www.migrationpolicy.org/about/moving-beyond-pandemic-podcast).

We hope you'll take a look and a listen.

Best regards,

Michelle Mittelstadt
Director of Communications and Public Affairs,
Migration Policy Institute

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The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development, and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national, and international levels. For more on MPI, please visit www.migrationpolicy.org.
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