This week Fred and discuss the updated guidelines for travel from the CDC for those that are vaccinated and what that will mean domestically and international. Hint – you will still need to use the NPI including wearing a mask for some time yet. Fred shares his second vaccine experience, and we talk about what to do with the vaccine card.
Raw Transcript
Nick van Terheyden
Hi, this is Dr. Nick on the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business, better health.
Fred Goldstein
And I’m Fred Goldstein, with accountable health here helping companies consider their employee benefits packages and how to keep their employees healthy, both with COVID. And as we move past COVID into the newer phases. So one of the new things about the newer phase, Nick, we got some new regs or new thoughts from the CDC regarding travel, and vaccines. So what’s up?
Nick van Terheyden
Well, so it I, it was inevitable that there was going to be new guidance around this once we start to see vaccinations and to be clear that the vaccination rate is inequitable around both the country, the United States and the world. We have, you know, widely varied, we’ve got countries that have done well, others not, you know, access and so forth. So this is going to be a difficult, challenging rollout. And obviously, for those folks that don’t have access to it, it’s going to create some challenges. But we’re seeing a wide pickup, or at least at this point, we’re starting to approach vaccine availability exceeds the demand. Sadly, I think some of that is because there’s some vaccine hesitation, which we talked about, we’re not going to talk about today, but hopefully people will see the light and access this. But it’s changed the way that we can travel. So the CDC has come out with a recommendation. Not really surprising in my mind, if you’ve been vaccinated. You don’t have to test before you go traveling. You don’t have to test when you arrive for traveling. And you don’t need to quarantine when you go or arrive back. But that doesn’t apply everywhere because local rules supplant that and local rules that’s even within the US. So I can’t say for certainty, I haven’t looked at Hawaii but they may well say we’re not playing because they did that throughout the The pandemic and you know, the prior experience. And certainly from a country perspective, that’s not true. So unfortunately, what that means is if you travel to, let’s say, England, there is a pretty solid quarantine requirement. If you go to Australia, it’s even harder quarantine, you’ve got to go into a specific hotel, pay some pretty significant money for that. The good news is when you come back to the US, if you’ve been vaccinated, they’ll accept that I think assuming that the states accept that. So I think it’s going to open up travel, you still have to wear protective masks, so need to carry on doing all the things that we do, because other people may not be vaccinated. And you know, we’re still trying to suppress the virus, but it does sort of open things up. And we’ve seen a increase in travel, we’ve now got flights being cancelled, because there were not enough pilots, hundreds of flights over the weekend for delta, I think we’re seeing the same with United. So we’re gonna see a pickup certainly domestically.
Fred Goldstein
So that raises two interesting thoughts, Nick, one is, obviously we’re learning more the vaccines must be good, right? They’re working Yes. By Oh, so that’s great news. they’ve expanded, you’re vaccinated, hey, you can travel this way. And the second is, that’s really a positive incentive for individuals to get vaccinated, right? We all want to go back to doing many of the things we haven’t been able to do whether it’s me to go visit my mom in California, etc. So this is some really good news from that perspective, too, isn’t it?
Nick van Terheyden
Yeah, I think it’s definitely a Kara’s in this particular instance. Obviously, if you’re not vaccinated, you’re gonna have to follow the existing regulations. And you know, pretty much for the time being, we’re looking at quarantine requirements, when you arrive in somewhere new, you’re looking at quarantine requirements when you come back, and also testing requirements, certainly. So I think, you know, great way to encourage vaccination. And you’re absolutely right, vaccines are working, we’ve seen some really good data on the double dose, or the two dose versions that you get actually pretty good immune response after the first dose. So the second dose is really, you know, just giving you even better immunity, which is fantastic news. And I think you’ve had some experiences, right?
Fred Goldstein
Absolutely. So in fact, yesterday, I went to the state site for my second dose of the Pfizer biotech vaccine, and, you know, very nervous about what’s the next day going to be like, because it’s so varied for individuals. And that’s what’s been fascinating to watch is how some people really react strongly. Last night, I don’t know if it was psychosomatic or what, but I was a little bit nauseous kind of tossing and turning, but haven’t really had a fever or anything. So sometimes it makes me a little nervous, because I’d like to know, I got a really strong response. And I haven’t seen that yet. I’m on that 24 hour period, it was actually exactly 10am yesterday morning, when I got my shot. So or actually nine, so it’s been 24 hours. So it’s gonna be interesting to watch. Now, what I’m trying to figure out now, too, is how do we ultimately track that I put my card in a safe place. But I’m looking around, I’ve made sure I have a PDF scan of that document just in case I lose it. But there’s going to have to be some way to allow us to track that without having to carry around that card. And I know there are questions about whether to laminate it or not, you may need a booster and those kinds of things. So it’s gonna be fascinating to watch. But we are beginning to consider now and those CDC recommendations just came out of good news for us. How do we travel to potentially see some of my family all of whom should be vaccinated very quickly.
Nick van Terheyden
So I, you know, let’s talk about a couple of things. So from an immune response, I think, you know, it’s fascinating here, you are going, Well, I didn’t get a, you know, a fever and stuff. But now I’ve gotten Well, maybe I didn’t get an immune response. I don’t think that’s true. I, you know, I think widely varied, you know, much depends on your immune response and the way that it’s sort of triggered and perhaps, you know, some of the other exposures that you’ve had potentially to other Coronavirus is in your past. One of the reasons that, you know, you may not see it in older generations is maybe they’ve seen some of this and they’re not getting the same massive response because this is not new. That’s not scientific fact. I don’t, you know, this is just me sort of conceptually thinking about it, but you know, it’s fascinating. You’ll go well, I missed out I didn’t know it’s good news. When it comes to the vaccine passports, I think you know, so here’s my suggestion. Take your handy dandy scanner, scan that puppy, both sides and then reprinted at credit card size. I even know what that size is because I’ve gone through this As price. So you minimize it to that size, then laminated. So you don’t laminate the original, I think, you know, the question is whether you should or shouldn’t, and then you’ve got a laminated copy that’s just a little bit smaller, they seem to come in varied sizes based on what I’ve seen. And you can carry that around. I think we’re gonna see it with the passports, you know, the digital versions of this, but you know, you want to have it and you need it to take it to Krispy Kreme. If you’re going to get your donor, you want to have that handy if you happen to drive bus.
Fred Goldstein
Thanks for reminding me that there’s one down the road, I might have to go hit that today. But as Dr. Wind said, maybe everyday is not such a good idea. But I do think these positive incentives, understanding that there are activities you’ll be able to do is really good news for people. And hopefully, it allows others to say, Well, I really should consider this vaccine. It may be right for me to do that. So once again, Nick, another great week. This is Fred Goldstein with accountable health. Thanks so much for listening to us. If you have any questions or you’d like to reach out to us, please go hit the website. And I’ll turn it back over to you Nick.
Nick van Terheyden
And this is Dr. Nick on the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business, better health.
