COVID-19 vaccines may have the power to finally unlock global travel.
Or at least things are looking that way since severely restricted countries such as Singapore are considering easing entry restrictions for vaccinated travelers.
Education Minister Lawrence Wong, co-head of the Government Multi-Ministry Taskforce on Covid-19, stated the country will consider relaxing quarantine measures for vaccinated people, including those visiting for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in May.
“If there is clear evidence that transmission risks can be lowered significantly, we will certainly consider some relaxation to the SHN (stay home notice) regime for vaccinated travelers.” Said Wong on Jan 4.
The Government will fine-tune its approach over time, said the Minister.
This is an interesting development in contrast to the strict entry restrictions Singapore has displayed to contain the spread of the virus.
Singapore’s secret to successfully defeat the virus
The country has not hesitated to impose restrictions going from red-listing all countries but 6, to extensively banning non-essential travel and enforcing multiple PCR tests and long quarantines to keep their figures under control.
As of today, the country only has 224 active cases and 29 total deaths.
Back in December, only a few hours before the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble went into effect, plans were canceled due to a small coronavirus outbreak.
Thus, it’s expected authorities will keep a strict control over the new vaccinated visitors as well.
Nowadays, only business travelers and returning nationals can enter Singapore after quarantining for 14 days at a government-designated facility.
Health-passport is the new cool travel gear
Several countries and government leaders have been slowly letting citizens know who will have the privilege to easily travel, eat inside restaurants and attend cultural events. Of course, vaccinated people.
Australia was the first country to publicly affirm travelers might need a vaccination certificate or health passport to be allowed boarding.
Meanwhile, Cyprus is officially the first country to remove COVID-19 tests and quarantine restrictions to all vaccinated travelers from March 2021.
And in other countries such as Israel, the government is reportedly issuing “green passports” that will grant nationals traveling and attending social gatherings.