Is it safe to travel if I am vaccinated and cured of Covid
There are currently millions of people vaccinated, boosted and recently recovered from Covid-19 infections caused by the omicron variant.
They have what some outside of the medical community have called “super-immunity.” And many are ready to see the world again.
Although the term carries an atmosphere invincibility, medical experts disagree on the level and duration of protection it provides.
CNBC Travel asked four leading medical institutions for their opinions.
“You are very well protected”
The risks of severe illness for vaccinated and recovered people are “low and … unlikely to get lower,” said Dale Fisher, group leader of medicine at the National University of Singapore Health System.
For these people, he said, road risks are now more about inconvenience than health. He said vaccinated travelers could still get sick during their trips, or their trips could be canceled if a pre-flight test is positive.
For the vast majority of people, this will be a very mild illness, if it is symptomatic at all.
Prof. Dale Fisher
Professor/Senior Consultant, Infectious Diseases, National University Hospital
Fisher said travel is not the Covid risk it used to be because of how common the omicron variant is today, he said.
“There is nothing magical about traveling; [Covid] because you are traveling, unless you are traveling from a very low endemic area to a very high endemic area,” he said. “But there aren’t many low-endemic areas left in the world.”
Some argue that vaccinations plus recovery provide more protection, Fischer said. However, he added, “you are very well protected even after two doses” of the vaccine.
“You risk contracting Covid wherever you go, for the rest of your life,” he said. “But in reality, for the vast majority of people, it will be a very mild illness, if it is symptomatic at all.”
“This virus is very cunning”
People shouldn’t let their guard down just yet, says Dr. Patrice Harris, former president of the American Medical Association and CEO of a home health testing company. eMed.
“We’re seeing a drop in hospitalizations, but look, we’re still seeing 2,400 deaths a day in this country,” she told CNBC Travel last week. “We have not yet reached the end of this pandemic.”
That’s not to say she doesn’t approve of travel — Harris said she’s planning two trips to Europe this year. But she recommends people rely on “tested, evidence-based practices” such as vaccines, testing, masks, ventilation and social distancing.
Dr. Patrice Harris was President of the American Medical Association from 2020 to 2021.
Source: EMed
Harris said people who are immunosuppressed, or who are around such people, should take great care. Despite being vaccinated and revaccinated, she remains cautious for the sake of her 87-year-old father, she said.
“This virus is very cunning and it has deceived us at every turn,” she said.
According to her, there is always the threat of another variant, as well as the risk of developing the so-called “long-term Covid” even after mild infections.
“Sometimes we think, ‘Oh, I’m going to get Covid, I’m young, I’m healthy, I’m gaining, so I’ll recover quickly,'” she said. “But… not everyone will.”
“You must travel”
According to Stefanos Kales, people who are generally healthy, have received three doses of the vaccine and have been ill with omicron should feel safe when traveling. professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
“If you don’t really have a serious illness or serious anxiety and you want to travel, you definitely need to travel,” he said. “You have to feel quite comfortable, because what else, you know, will protect you better?”
“Let’s face it… it really looks like [Covid] will never completely disappear,” he said. “We have other coronaviruses, some of them are cold viruses, and… as annoying as colds are, we haven’t found a magic cure or vaccine for them. But on the whole, we live in spite of them.”
Kales believes it’s time to “get away” from the pandemic.
“I think it’s time to … treat it like we’re treating the flu or a cold,” he said.
Stay humble’
Professor Cyril Cohen, head of the Immunotherapy Laboratory at Israel’s Bar Ilan University, said it was too early to talk about full protection for vaccinated and recovered people.
Like Harris, he says he is concerned about the threat of new options.
He said that until the situation stabilizes, “I do think we still need to feel humble and cautious.”
Travelers may be infected with a new variant that has not yet been discovered. “This is how it started for a lot of people back in 2020,” he said.
We still need to feel humble and cautious.
Professor Cyril Cohen
Head of the Department of Immunotherapy, Bar-Ilan University
According to him, in people with the so-called “superimmunity” the disease may be less severe. “But it depends so much on the type of option” that might arise.
“It’s always a race… between your immune system and pathogens,” he said. “In the end, you want to be the person who wins this race.”
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