Biden says if medical team advises it, he'll issue domestic travel vaccine requirement

President Biden said Tuesday he would impose a mandate that Americans be vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel domestically if his medical team recommends it. 

When asked when he would make a decision on domestic travel vaccine requirements while out for a walk in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Biden told reporters, "when I get a recommendation from the medical team."

The idea of mandating coronavirus vaccines for domestic travel has been bouncing around the administration for months, and the emergence of the omicron variant caused the White House to revisit questions over whether to impose it.

Biden last month said he would wait for the scientific community to give him a recommendation when asked if consideration has been given to domestic flights requiring tests or vaccines. 

Biden’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Monday cleaned up his previous remarks on a mandate after he said on Sunday that “anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome” when asked about for his thoughts on a domestic travel mandate.

“Everything that comes up as a possibility, we put it on the able and we consider it, that does not mean that it is likely to happen,” Fauci told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Monday. ...