According to an administration official with knowledge of the emerging policy, President Joe Biden’s administration plans to require all foreign visitors to the United States to get vaccinated against the Coronavirus.
Plans for the new system are part of the larger move to ease travel restrictions into the country, but officials haven’t yet determined when that will occur.
The plan, reported by Reuters on August 4., is part of a new system to be implemented once the current travel restrictions, Title 42, are lifted. The lack of political will to end Trump’s travel restrictions is not clearly evident. US Border Patrol and U.S. Customs are empowered by Title 42 to restrict entry to those who may pose health risks to the country, either because of previously announced travel restrictions or by reason of unlawful entry to bypass health screening measures.
The Title 42 expulsion policy has effectively closed the U.S. border to nearly all asylum seekers due to the misapplication of an obscure, 75-year-old public health law.
Only 15 percent of the world is vaccinated.
Africa has the lowest vaccination rate of any continent, with some countries yet to begin mass vaccination campaigns. The vaccine-sharing program Covax is helping less wealthy countries to achieve their goal of providing two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the year. The majority of vaccines in arms have been given to countries of high- and upper-middle-income.
The number of doses administered in low-income countries is only 0.3%.
Even in the western hemisphere, Jamaica’s vaccination rate remains low, as 93.7% of the population has not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine. The Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW) has released statistics showing that fewer than 5% of the Jamaican population have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The plan, if implemented as published, will replace Title 42 with a global restriction on all immigration, especially immigrants from majority-Black countries.
While consistent with many of the current anti-Black policies in U.S. Immigration, this policy adds another layer to the invisible wall restricting the entry of Black immigrants
