PETALING JAYA: Good news for Malaysian students and travellers to the United States as they no longer need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 from May 11.
This follows the announcement by the White House that international air travellers to the United States will no longer need to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
The announcement came after US President Joe Biden made a decision to end the United States’ three-year Covid-19 public health emergency that was put in place in May 2020 by his predecessor Donald Trump.
According to the Higher Education Ministry, the United States has been one of the top destinations for Malaysian students due to the quality of its tertiary education institutions.
As at May 2022, there were 4,993 Malaysian students registered with the Higher Education Ministry’s Education Malaysia Washington DC unit.
Under the previous mandate, non-US citizens arriving in the United States via land and air were required to have a Covid-19 vaccination.
Covid-19 deaths in the United States had declined by 95% since January 2021 while hospitalisations are down by nearly 91%, the White House said, in the statement which was published on its official website.
“Globally, Covid-19 deaths are at their lowest levels since the start of the pandemic,” it added.
“Following a whole-of-government effort that led to a record number of nearly 270 million Americans receiving at least one shot of the Covid-19 vaccine, we are in a different phase of our response to Covid-19 than we were when many of these requirements were put into place,” it said.
The statement also said the vaccine mandate will also be lifted for US government employees, contractors and certain non-citizens at US land borders.
“While vaccination remains one of the most important tools in advancing the health and safety of employees and promoting the efficiency of workplaces, we are now in a different phase of our response where these measures are no longer necessary,” it added.
