Vaccinate Immediately if You Want to Travel in The Next Six Months

Disclaimer: This post does not constitute financial or medical advice.

Do you have friends or family that haven’t gotten their Covid-19 vaccine yet? Sure. Everybody knows at least a few people. Some I’ve spoken with said they’ll get it before their next vacation.

This is good, but that vacation might never happen if a third booster shot eliminates their chance at being fully vaccinated.

The current preferred Covid-19 vaccine regiment is two MRNA doses. The interval between the doses is one month. As it stands, if you wanted to travel in March of 2022, you could get your first dose in January, second dose in February, and you’d count as “fully vaxxed” and cleared for travel by March.

This is probably to change.

It’s human nature to put off doing things we don’t like. If on a Monday you give someone a chore with a deadline of Sunday, some of us are gonna do it Saturday afternoon. But if that deadline is moved to Wednesday, then the chore will probably be finished Tuesday or Wednesday morning.

Here are some facts.

1. Countries like Canada have signed supply deals with MRNA vaccine manufacturers for many years in the future. Canada inked a deal with Modern for 2022, 2023, and 2024. [Source]

A deal like this suggests that politicians and scientists expect Covid-19 to be with us for some time. Going forward, we might be looking yearly booster shots, or maybe even bi-yearly.

2. After reviewing data from Israel, which supports the use of booster shots, the US is expected to reduce the length between the second and third shots to five months. If the FDA signs off on it (which seems highly likely at this point) then the US will start offering a third shot to eligible citizens on September 20th. [Source]

3. Israel is currently offering third shots to all citizens over the age of 12.

4. You’re only going to count as fully vaxxed in Israel if you have three shots.

Going forward, things will be murky with regards to what counts as being fully vaccinated. The idea that vaccine efficacy begins to wane after six months is annoying. Unless a powerful therapeutic (like an oral antiviral) is discovered, we appear to be looking at an endless loop of booster shots.

But this isn’t a scary or original concept. We already have this with the flu shot. It’s a yearly thing. Except not getting a flu shot doesn’t prohibit you from non-essential services. (As some places are doing now with Covid-19.)

Israel has been ahead of this thing since the start. They reportedly paid the most for Pfizer doses. They got first access. We always knew Israel was the place to watch.  And now they’re saying that the vaccines are losing strength after six months.

If Israel is saying you don’t count as “fully vaxxed” unless you have three shots, then it’s reasonable to expect other nations to (eventually) say the same.

Even if your country says two doses still count as fully vaccinated, the country you wish to visit to might disagree.

So, if you’re planning on doing anything in the next six months that might require you to be fully vaccinated, it’s probably a good idea to get ahead of this thing.

Go get your first shot. Today. Six months from now you’ll be eligible for a third.

Don’t ruin your travel plans by procrastinating.