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Fauci: US should consider vaccine mandate for US air travel

  • By Zeke Miller/AP
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, wears a face mask during the White House COVID-19 Response Team's regular call with the National Governors Association in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus, Monday, Dec. 27, 2021, in Washington. Fauci says the U.S. should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel as coronavirus infections surge. To date the Biden administration has balked at the idea, anticipating legal entanglements. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

 Carolyn Kaster / AP

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, wears a face mask during the White House COVID-19 Response Team's regular call with the National Governors Association in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus, Monday, Dec. 27, 2021, in Washington. Fauci says the U.S. should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel as coronavirus infections surge. To date the Biden administration has balked at the idea, anticipating legal entanglements. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(Washington)  —  The top U.S. infectious disease expert says the nation should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel.

Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments Monday signal a potential embrace of an idea the Biden administration has previously eschewed.

He says such a mandate might drive up the lagging U.S. vaccination rate as well as confer stronger protection on flights, as infection rates spike.

The Biden administration has thus far balked at imposing a vaccination requirement for domestic air travel.

And 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 spark legal challenges.

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