The European Commission said on Tuesday 21 September, it would make sense for the United States to allow travel by people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots, although existing U.S. guidance already authorizes those travelers.
On Monday, the White House said it would lift restrictions from November that bar EU citizens, including those fully vaccinated, from traveling to the United States.
"We believe the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe," Eric Mamer, a spokesperson for the EU Commission, told a news conference.
"From our point of view, obviously it would make sense for people who have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca to be able to travel," the spokesperson added, noting that this, however, was a decision for the U.S.A. authorities.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that it currently considers people to be fully vaccinated, and therefore able to travel by air to the U.S.A., if they have received any of the FDA-authorized vaccines or shots approved by the World Health Organization, which include AstraZeneca's.
The regulatory U.S. Food and Drug Administration has so far authorized for use of the COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, but is still reviewing the AstraZeneca shot.
WHO has authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine, including the version made in Europe. The shot is also approved for use in the 27 EU countries where about 70 million doses have been administered cumulatively, according to public data.
EU has its own safe-travel list, from which the United States was recently removed after a spike in infections there.
Most EU countries do not accept foreign nationals vaccinated with shots that are not authorized at the EU level.