Travel that is only allowing the vaccinated - what about their children?

[doireallyneedaname]

Partner and I have both had our 1st dose so by the time we wish to travel we’ll have been fully vaccinated.

We have a 1 year old who obviously isn’t and won’t be vaccinated, what do we think will happen in this scenario?

I am guessing that children under a certain age will be exempt.

That rather depends on where you want to travel. Other countries are free to make their own decisions.

I don't think it's all been decided yet. It will be down to individual countries.

@countrygirl99 Well i suspect by the time summer rolls around most countries will have very similar rules in place.

I think it’s too early to tell. Countries will be able to enforce whatever entry restrictions they want, and some may choose to only allow vaccinated people entry quarantine-free, so a family with vaccinated adults could enter with a baby but have to quarantine for a set period. Or they could impose no restrictions. It’s likely airlines etc. will take their cue from governments, but I expect it’s likely to expect testing as a minimum. We will hear more about U.K. Govt plans on 12 April, which will give more of an indication. I think airlines offering vaccination only flights will be very popular! Especially if it means adults only for a period of time.

Who knows. The Precautionary Principle is the only way to decide what we should do even when it tramples on fundamental civil liberties and the science is very weak or contradictory. Unless the PP seems to insult the UK nationally and then the PP is outrageously political and wrong. There's No Consistent Rationale for how any of these control decisions are being made. It's all KneeJerk decision-making and therefore highly flawed & potentially very inequitable.

Yes, true. As an example I do think that many may work on the assumption that it’s extremely unlikely for a newborn baby to have covid if both parents have been vaccinated. The chance of that baby infecting anyone is also minimal it seems. You couldn’t be able to reasonably perform a covid test on a newborn baby, and asking people to quarantine for 10 days in another country before their holiday commences is just not do able - unless you’re unemployed and made of £

Well they're doing trials on kids so hopefully most kids above a certain age will have their jab and be good to go. Not sure about babies though.

I was thinking this OP, we deferred our holiday from last summer - due to travel in August. Our son is 14 and will not be vaxed but both parents will have had 2 doses

It will be down to individual countries. We are hoping to go to Spain in August - the Spanish tourism guys have been very vocal about wanting to let the brits in this summer and I find it hard to believe that if they let in people generally they would say no to families. They might need to kids testing though. Personally I hope they test the older children but the younger kids are exempt but I have entirely selfish reasons for saying that.

My son is ASD and demand avoidance and finds testing extremely stressful, he has to be very carefully managed at school by the staff. He has cooperated with the tests so far but he has to be handled sensitively. It is a nightmare.

[quote doireallyneedaname]@countrygirl99 Well i suspect by the time summer rolls around most countries will have very similar rules in place.[/quote]
Maybe, maybe not

P&O cruises have just released only vaccinated can go on their cruises from June. I heard a spokesperson on radio this morning say children will not be allowed to travel on these cruises. Absolutely no one who has not received both vaccines can board the ship. They said it is because on a ship people are in close proximity and also they tend to have a more elderly population taking cruises. Apparently Virgin cruises too. Other cruises are expected to follow suit. For same reasons.

@doireallyneedaname

Yes, true. As an example I do think that many may work on the assumption that it’s extremely unlikely for a newborn baby to have covid if both parents have been vaccinated. The chance of that baby infecting anyone is also minimal it seems. You couldn’t be able to reasonably perform a covid test on a newborn baby, and asking people to quarantine for 10 days in another country before their holiday commences is just not do able - unless you’re unemployed and made of £

Yes and in these situations of quarantine it would be likely that the parents would choose not to book/travel, unless it’s a longer trip to visit family making quarantine worth it.

On TV Sky news they have just said the EU is considering a green digital passport for EU use for over 16's, but some countries e.g. Spain want it extended to UK as they wish to welcome UK holiday makers. Nothing was said about children under 16. If they are not offered vaccine I don't see how they can be excluded. It is not as if they have refused to have the vaccine. Surely that wouldn't work as many holiday makers from UK have children in their party.

@caringcarer

P&O cruises have just released only vaccinated can go on their cruises from June. I heard a spokesperson on radio this morning say children will not be allowed to travel on these cruises. Absolutely no one who has not received both vaccines can board the ship. They said it is because on a ship people are in close proximity and also they tend to have a more elderly population taking cruises. Apparently Virgin cruises too. Other cruises are expected to follow suit. For same reasons.

these particular cruises are going round the UK and not stopping anywhere and probably unlikely to be attractive to families anyway. As cruise companies' main market is older people i think it's reasonable to do this to make it attractive to those people. And given what happened on cruise boats early last year it's understandable they want to be super cautious. I don't think it necessarily means all holiday companies will be 'no children'.

@caringcarer

P&O cruises have just released only vaccinated can go on their cruises from June. I heard a spokesperson on radio this morning say children will not be allowed to travel on these cruises. Absolutely no one who has not received both vaccines can board the ship. They said it is because on a ship people are in close proximity and also they tend to have a more elderly population taking cruises. Apparently Virgin cruises too. Other cruises are expected to follow suit. For same reasons.

Cruise ships were covid super spreaders so will have to go a long way to entice people back. At first I thought this sounded perfect, all passengers vaccinated and no children allowed . Unfortunately the crew will not all be vaccinated which somewhat takes away the appeal.

Anyone without both vaccinations should be able to provide a negative PCR test within 48 hours of travel.

Surely children could still spread it though so it makes sense to not allow children to travel this summer. I can't see how Covid can be controlled when children are unvaccinated and could spread it both to the country they are going to and the UK when they return. Unless of course they are going to test and quarantine children allowing them to travel.

@caringcarer

On TV Sky news they have just said the EU is considering a green digital passport for EU use for over 16's, but some countries e.g. Spain want it extended to UK as they wish to welcome UK holiday makers. Nothing was said about children under 16. If they are not offered vaccine I don't see how they can be excluded. It is not as if they have refused to have the vaccine. Surely that wouldn't work as many holiday makers from UK have children in their party.

This is pissing me off. One of my D.C. is 16. In the U.K. 16 and 17 year olds are not eligible for vaccinations but will not be allowed to travel abroad. Rock meet hard place. Better cancel that holiday.

@NameChange2PostThis
Absolutely nothing is decided. We will know more after April 12th. As i said upthread we are also hoping to go to Spain and i would be staggered if they closed the door to under 18s. I suspect they might make test on entry a requirement though if unvaccinated.

Im sure it will be lovely for all the over 70s to go off on their holidays this summer, whilst our mask wearing, tested, missing schools, friends and everything else kids probably wont be able to. Messed up system completely.

Won’t be very long before vaccine for children is approved.

The only country I have looked at the proposed rules for (Greece) was very straightforward: fully vaccinated no issues, unvaccinated need a clear PCR test, under 12s no requirements. I believe the PCR tests for this were being provided by the travel company eg £70 from TUI.

To be honest I see more countries following in the footsteps of Greece. Lots of countries need tourism so it doesn't make sense for children to be unable to travel as it stops all family holidays. I imagine vaccinated or tested adults, tested children over a certain age.

@Rayna37 I hadn’t seen that! That’s reassuring, though I’d argue a cut off of age 12 is questionable. Medical issues aside, a child could have a test in an airport etc, not so much the case for an infant.