Biden Administration Rejects Proposal to Eliminate Vaccine Mandate for Foreign Travelers

The Biden administration is rejecting Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) proposal to eliminate the coronavirus vaccine mandate for foreign travelers, asserting that to do so would be “unscientific.”

Massie has introduced H.R. 185, which “nullifies the order issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention titled Amended Order Implementing Presidential Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic and published on April 7, 2022.”

A summary of the bill notes that the order it seeks to nullify “restricts the entry of noncitizens who are not immigrants into the United States by air travel unless they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or otherwise attest that they will take public health measures to prevent the spread of the disease.”

“The bill also nullifies any successor or subsequent orders that require foreign persons traveling by air to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of entry and prohibits the use of federal funds to administer or enforce such a requirement,” the summary of the bill, introduced last month, reads.

However, the Biden administration does not support the measure.

Massie shared a letter from the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday which rejected the proposal to end the vaccine mandate on foreign travelers. 

“Biden just issued a statement opposing HR 185, my bill to repeal vaccine mandate on international visitors flying to the United States,” Massie said. 

“He says his policy is based on science, but his ‘science’ conflicts with the science of the rest of the world which doesn’t have this mandate!” the lawmaker added:

Biden just issued a statement opposing HR 185, my bill to repeal vaccine mandate on international visitors flying to the United States.

He says his policy is based on science, but his “science” conflicts with the science of the rest of the world which doesn’t have this mandate! pic.twitter.com/7SCciDhsxp

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 7, 2023

While the Office of Management and Budget admitted that the coronavirus is “no longer the disruptive threat that it once was,” it said the Biden administration “opposes Congressional action to reverse the vaccination requirement for noncitizen nonimmigrants entering the United States by air,” asserting that the policy is “guided by science” and contending that its termination “should be as well.” 

“A vote for this bill undercuts that critical principle,” it added. 

Despite the Biden administration’s plea, it is now common knowledge that the vaccine does not prevent transmission of the virus, nor does it prevent one from contracting it. 

“The various shots that people are getting now cover that.  They’re — you’re okay.  You’re not going to — you’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations,” Biden told the country in July 2021. One year later, the multi-vaccinated president contracted the virus. 

Later in 2021, Biden spread more coronavirus misinformation, claiming that vaccinated individuals “do not spread the disease.”

“Everybody talks about freedom about not to have a shot or have a test,” Biden said at the time. “Well guess what? How about patriotism? How about you make sure you’re vaccinated, so you do not spread the disease to anybody else? What about that? What’s the big deal?”