Friends,
This article addresses some common issues about vaccines required for international travel. The links at the end may be helpful to travelers.
First, vaccines are required for international travel by both the World Health Organization (WHO) as to travel between countries, since no country has jurisdiction outside of its own borders or national waters; and individual countries as to people entering any given country. The WHO website says: “Some countries require proof of vaccination for travellers wishing to enter or exit the country,” while the WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR) give the WHO authority to mandate yellow fever vaccines with medical exemptions. The IHR also say that individual countries may quarantine unvaccinated travelers for up to six days where “vectors of yellow fever are present.”
In current and recent pre-covid times, routine vaccine requirements for international travelers were limited: yellow fever vaccine for travelers going in or out of subtropical South American and Sub-Saharan Africa, polio vaccine to get into Pakistan, and meningitis vaccine to get into Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage at Mecca. Of course, the CDC, a big pharma marketing division, recommends boatloads of vaccine for all international travelers, but recommendations are not requirements (even if some people treat them as such). So, making the “required vs. recommended” distinction is critical for those travelers wishing to minimize or avoid travel vaccines.
Emergency vaccines such as those for pandemics are different, as mandates for them can come and go with changing disease conditions and ever-changing media propaganda. Many countries required covid shots to enter their country over the past several months, though few do presently. Oddly, for entry into the U.S., the CDC imposed different requirements depending on whether the traveler was a U.S. citizen or immigrant, and whether the person was traveling by air or by land or sea (I find it curious that a virus could make such distinctions). There was no difference with respect to where the traveler was coming from; apparently, covid is an equal opportunity virus (this is one talented little germ). If this sounds unreasonable, just remember that these are the same people who pretty much said that hospital workers needed a letter from their coroner certifying they’d been dead for two weeks to qualify for a medical exemption to a flu shot. (Ah yes, now it all makes sense.)
As far as I know, only medical exemptions are accepted for international travelers. I’ve also not heard of a country that accepts homeoprophylaxis (homeopathic “vaccination”) as a substitute for allopathic vaccines, either. Non-vaccinated travelers who manage to get into a country that requires vaccination could probably expect to be deported or quarantined.
To stay abreast of changing travel vaccine requirements, travelers should monitor government websites. The links below may help.
Of course, this could all go out the window with the new WHO regulations. But I suspect international travel will be low on the list of concerns once those changes take effect; the WHO’s elite handlers want to control of all of us whether we ever leave our homes or not.
Stay tuned…
With gratitude,
Alan Phillips, J.D.
Vaccine Rights Legal Expert
1. International Travel to/from Any Countries (Kayak; can select to and from countries): https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions
2. Travel to the U.S. by air (CDC):
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/proof-of-vaccination.html
3. Travel to the U.S. by land or water (Department of Homeland Security):
Homeland Security: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/10/29/fact-sheet-guidance-travelers-enter-us-land-ports-entry-and-ferry-terminals
4. Travel to the U.S. (State Department):
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/emergencies/covid-19-faqs-for-travel-to-the-us-information.html
5. WHO International Health Regulations (see Annex 7, pdf page 62, document page no. 54): https://www.who.int/health-topics/international-health-regulations
Have an exemption question? Email alan@vaccinerights.com. Some questions may be addressed in future articles (with anonymity).
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Alan Phillips, J.D., is the nation’s leading vaccine rights legal expert, the only person who’s ever been a fulltime attorney with exemptions, who’s worked in all 6 dozen exemption contexts and sub-contexts, and who’s worked with clients, attorneys, legislators, and activists nationally for over two decades. Experience matters! For exemption help, see vaccinerights.com.