Robert L. Quigley, MD, DPhil, is the Senior Vice President and Global Medical Director, Corporate Health Solutions atInternational SOS&MedAire. After 25 years working in surgery, critical care, and immunology, he’s using his expertise to advise on crisis management, infectious disease, and health care. Here, he shares his thoughts on travel considerations for families with young children who may not yet be fully vaccinated.

With the holidays just around the corner, many families who are planning to travel remain anxious about the potential heightened risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Some of the anxiety may be lifted with the Food and Drug Administration’s(FDA) emergency-use authorizationfor the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5-11. The hope is that vaccinating these 30 million youngsters will not only reduce their risk of COVID-19 infection, but also reduce the number of infections in both vaccinated and unvaccinated adults through transmission.

CDC Recommends COVID-19 Vaccine for Kids 5–11

Still, there’s a few things to consider before taking a child on a trip.

Will Kids Be Fully Vaccinated Ahead of Travel?

It typically takes a minimum of two weeks following vaccination forimmunity against COVID-19 to develop.Simply scheduling a vaccination appointment with the pediatrician provides no immunity. Full protection requires two doses spaced three weeks apart, plus two weeks elapsed from the second dose.

How Will You Get to Your Destination?

If you’re taking any form of public transportation, know that the Transportation Security Administration(TSA) federal mask mandatefor airline, bus, and train will extend until January 18, 2022. This serves as a built-in safeguard for unvaccinated children—as long as every passenger follows the rules.

If your destination isn’t within driving distance, though, don’t panic. Contrary to popular belief, the risk of COVID-19 transmission on an airplane is much lower than originally thought because of the on-board HEPA filters, the recirculation of cabin air every three to four minutes, and the direction of airflow (downward and towards the back).

U.S. Welcomes Back Foreign Travelers—As Long As They’re Vaccinated

What’s the Status of Your Destination?

This information is readily available from the travel sections on the CDC websiteand/or the U.S. Embassy at your destination.

Verywell’s Interactive Map Can Help You Plan Your Holiday Travel

Know Before You Go

Regardless of vaccination status, parents should follow the below safety mitigation measures to lessen the risk of contracting COVID-19 while traveling, and to prevent their children from contracting the virus as well:

It is apparent that even fullyvaccinated individuals can get infected with COVID-19, and in turn, transmit it. At the same time, there remains a significant population of adults who will refuse to be vaccinated and refuse to have their children vaccinated. So COVID-19 risk remains this holiday season. But travel can and will still happen. Therefore, it’s important foreveryoneto take the above steps to mitigate COVID-19 transmission.

The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit ourcoronavirus news page.

1 SourceVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Pombal R, Hosegood I, Powell D.Risk of COVID-19 during air travel.JAMA.2020;324(17):1798. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.19108

1 Source

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Pombal R, Hosegood I, Powell D.Risk of COVID-19 during air travel.JAMA.2020;324(17):1798. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.19108

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Pombal R, Hosegood I, Powell D.Risk of COVID-19 during air travel.JAMA.2020;324(17):1798. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.19108

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