VACCINATIONS ARE NOT THE ‘GOLDEN TICKET’ FOR COVID FREE AIR TRAVEL

British healthcare company SALUTARIS PEOPLE has issued a stark warning to those in the travel industry and aviation sector who believe airline passengers that have been vaccinated should not need to be tested or quarantined.

The company warned that such complacency could lead to a potential next wave of infection rates as they labour under the false belief of immunity. Airline travel played a huge part in the early stages of spreading the Covid-19 virus before a pandemic was declared.

Salutaris People issued a warning to all Governments about the importance of maintaining strict Covid 19 testing programmes between now and the Autumn as infection rates continue to drop. By ensuring Covid testing programmes are maintained it will provide a Covid-19 ‘early-warning’ detector if global infection rates start rising again.

The UK Government is set to announce its latest plans for travel restrictions being lifted later this week. It is anticipated this will fall into a traffic light system with countries graded red, amber and green in terms of infection rate level and travel restrictions. Salutaris People believe that PCR testing has a vital role to play as the air corridors are opened up to travel. Now more than ever the need for PCR testing is crucial in airline travel as the definitive ‘gold standard’.

Consultant Virologist and Infectious Diseases Physician Dr Brendan Payne (Royal Victoria Infirmary Newcastle Upon Tyne), who advises Akea Life, the clinical services provider to Salutaris People, believes that Covid-19 testing will remain alongside the requirement to wear face masks for at least the next three years in any form of air travel.

“The NHS and Public Health England will need to maintain Covid testing capability indefinitely. Covid will not be eliminated by vaccinations and we need to find long-term solutions to live with it. An intensive programme of Covid testing is key as a major defence against new waves and new strains compromising our gains from vaccination. I don’t see this changing for at least the next year and probably longer. The most likely scenario for the next few years is a continued arms race between new variants of Covid and vaccination. Widespread Covid testing is absolutely crucial in winning that battle.”

Whilst we know that vaccines provide strong protection, they cannot completely remove the risk of infection and transmission. There is an even greater need to provide continual Covid testing even when infection rates are low to ensure infection control.

Dr Brendan Payne added:

“Currently, Covid vaccines are on average perhaps 80% effective and not everyone will agree to have one. There will always be a certain number of Covid infections in the public, despite widespread vaccination. In many ways, it becomes more important to test widely once Covid numbers become lower because you need to know as quicky as possible if you are starting to lose control of the situation again. This is critical in quickly identifying hot spots of infection cases rising.”

Professor Adam Finn of the Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination & Immunisation also recently warned in the media that unregulated travel could be “very dangerous indeed” stating that plans needed to be “thought through carefully” to avoid losing the progress made over the last few months. In recent media reports he was quoted as saying; “We certainly got our hands very comprehensively burned in March 2020, when very large numbers of people returned from holidays in Europe with the virus and set the pandemic going in the UK at a very fast rate.