Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said Monday that the nation should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel.
Fauci's comments signal a potential embrace of an idea the Biden administration has previously eschewed.
Fauci said such a mandate might drive up the lagging U.S. vaccination rate as well as confer stronger protection on flights, as infection rates spike.
“When you make vaccination a requirement, that’s another incentive to get more people vaccinated,” Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief science adviser on the pandemic response, told MSNBC. “If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that’s something that seriously should be considered.”
The administration has thus far balked at imposing a vaccination requirement for domestic air travel. Officials say President Joe Biden’s science advisers have yet to make a formal recommendation for such a requirement.
A vaccine mandate for air travel is likely to involve logistical concerns and spark legal challenges.
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