Europe opens up for vaccinated Americans

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April Carr, Writer

Europe has recently announced their plans to reopen their country to vaccinated Americans in June. This is a huge step towards normalcy since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, especially with Europe and America being highly affected by COVID-19. The reopening of the country is taking place just over a year after the lockdown began.

The Washington Post stated that while the majority of European countries have remained closed to any nonessential travel, there have been a few that reopened, including Iceland and Greece. It is also stated that the 27 European member states are all in plan to open in the summer.

According to Insider, it is highly possible that Americans will need a government issued certificate stating that the individual has gotten their vaccine. However, there is also discussion that they will only allow electronic vaccination records, according to health expert at Virginia Tech, Lisa Lee, to decrease the chances of fraud vaccination cards.

CNTraveler revealed that while adults have to prove their vaccination with a print card or a digital vaccination card, children will only need a negative polymerase chain reaction test (PCR); the test would have to be in a 72 hour time frame before arrival.

While Europe is opening up international travel, according to Insider, the Centers for Disease  Control and Prevention,(CDC) is not recommending it. The Biden administration is still yet to announce their plans on it.

While there are numerous upsides, COVID-19 variants are still going around which may cause an emergency brake if COVID-19 numbers rapidly go up, as stated by CNTraveler.

Previously, Europe had all nonessential travel banned, so even if a vaccine is Americans only way into the country for the time being, it is a huge step toward positive change.