As part of the plan to ease travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international travelers, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that the US will allow international travelers to enter the country with proof of a COVID-19 vaccination authorized by the World Health Organization (WHO). US-approved vaccines currently include Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer-BioNTech, and WHO has granted approval for those three as well as the Oxford-AstraZeneca/Covishield, Sinopharm, and Sinovac vaccines. This decision comes several weeks after the White House announced that it would be introducing a new international air travel system in "early November" that would open travel for vaccinated foreign nationals. The initial announcement did not say which vaccines would be accepted, although health officials had previously said the CDC would likely allow those approved by the WHO.

The new COVID-19 vaccine requirements will now apply to nearly all foreign nationals flying to the US, including those not subject to the prior restrictions. However, officials have yet to announce when restrictions will officially lift. The CDC must still finalize and publish new contact tracing rules for international visitors, which it sent to the White House for review on September 15. The CDC must also detail rules for exceptions, which include children not yet eligible for shots, as well as for visitors from countries where vaccines are not widely available. Additionally, the administration must decide whether to admit visitors that are participating in COVID-19 clinical trials or have recently contracted COVID-19 and are not yet eligible for vaccination. Click "Read More" for additional details as published in Reuters.

The US will lift travel restrictions at the borders with Canada and Mexico starting in November, allowing fully vaccinated foreign nationals to cross its land borders for non-essential purposes such as tourism or visiting friends and family, reports USA Today. The change would allow foreign travelers to enter the US through land or ferry ports for the first time since March 2020. Government officials have not yet announced a date for the policy change but said it will take place in "early November," in tandem with its new procedures to ease travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international travelers. The new land border procedures will be broken into two phases, both of which introduce vaccine mandates:

"This phased approach will provide ample time for essential travelers such as truckers and others to get vaccinated, enabling a smooth transition to this new system," senior administration officials said. The current travel restrictions, which are set to end on October 21, will be extended until the new policy goes into effect. Currently, US land borders are only open to "essential travel" such as work and trade.

The UK Government has removed 47 countries from its red list, reducing the number of countries it considers to have the highest risk for COVID-19 to seven, reports The New York Times. The countries remaining on the list are Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. “We’re making it easier for families and loved ones to reunite, by significantly cutting the number of destinations on the red list, thanks in part to the increased vaccination efforts around the globe,” UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement. Fully vaccinated travelers arriving from countries not on the red list will no longer be required to take a COVID-19 test before traveling to the UK, although they must still pay for a test on the second day after their arrival. Unvaccinated travelers from non-red listed destinations will still have to take a pre-departure test, plus tests on their second and eighth days after arriving, and will still be required to isolate for 10 days.

Enterprise Holdings, the parent company of Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental, has announced that it is further extending loyalty program benefits for its car rental brands. Members of National’s Emerald Club Executive and Executive Elite, and Enterprise Plus Silver, Gold, and Platinum elite tiers, whose tier statuses were set to expire on February 28, 2022, will now be extended through February 28, 2023. In addition, Emerald Club Program Free Days, previously set to expire on December 31, 2021, will roll over through December 31, 2022. This is the latest in a series of loyalty extensions from Enterprise and National. "We recognize the plans of many travelers continue to be impacted during these dynamic times and that many of our loyalty members may have not had the chance to use their hard-earned benefits," said Randal Narike, Executive Vice President, Global Mobility and Customer Experience at Enterprise Holdings. "These extensions are a way to provide some added flexibility and to thank our most loyal customers." Last year, both Enterprise Plus and Emerald Club were first in the industry to announce extensions to elite tiers for a full year.

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