Travel guidance won’t come until more people are vaccinated, CDC says

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has so far declined to issue new guidance on travel for vaccinated Americans due to concerns about travel-related surges but is “looking forward” to updating guidance once more people get protected.

“What we have seen is that we have surges after people start traveling, we saw it after July 4, we saw it after Labor Day, we saw it after the Christmas holidays,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday in response to a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a COVID-19 briefing.

Walensky said because 90% of people remain unvaccinated they will wait to update guidance until “we have more protection across the communities and across the population.”

She declined to provide information for the 10% of Americans who are vaccinated and looking for guidance on whether it is safe for them to travel.

The issue of air travel for the vaccinated has become a hot-button issue, with the industry pushing back against the new CDC guidelines, according to CNN reporting.

In a statement, industry group Airlines For America insists being on board a plane poses a low risk of coronavirus infection because of heavily filtered air and federally mandated mask wearing.

“We remain confident that this layered approach significantly reduces risk,” the group said.

This story is breaking and will be updated.