Not yet, but with Spain already keeping a list of their own residents who haven't accepted the vaccine does not bode well for foreigners who won't. After the abject horror they've faced for the last year, do you blame them?
It would be near-impossible to create a zero-infection environment onboard ships if children aren't innoculated as well as adults. Currently there isn't a vaccination being tested on kids let alone one approved, and pediatric approvals generally are more rigorous with more observation time/data required. Since children are most likely to have mild or asymptomatic cases of COVID, will the vaccine even receive emergency use approval for pediatrics or wait for a longer review period for full approval. However, the concern for cruising is that even asymptomatic kids can spread the virus, which in turn may be serious for adults and even vaccinated adults are not 100% immune. Considering the demographics of DCL's market, this could be a bigger issue for DCL than other cruise lines which have less of a focus on children and families.
Agree it's a game changer. But I think DCL is in a different situation than most cruise lines due to the higher number of children and families who cruise. The discussion is will vaccines be required, and I think the lack of vaccinations for the pediatric population will play into DCL's decision making.
Thanks for responding. I thought perhaps there had been an announcement that I had missed.
What we're trying to do with the vaccine is to decrease severe infection and deaths from Covid. The disease itself may never go away. Since children so rarely become sick from it (aside from typical URI symptoms), I think DCL will sail with unvaccinated children as long as all the adults are vaccinated.
And they have been since November. There is a chance, whatever it’s worth, that EUA may expand to those middle-school aged kids in time for the next school year. Add the Edge kids to 16+, and the % vaccinated on board plus the risk of <12 for severe disease makes outbreak risk (and major events) a near-zero proposition. Carnival has a similar demographic, age wise, to DCL on their 6 night and longer sailings. Not sure about other major lines, but I’m guessing that RCI and NCL are similar at least in the Caribbean. The question is will port nations and cruise lines be able to hold out until mid-late 2021 to make the mandates worthwhile.
Canadians will also need to fill that out as well. Was supposed to start in 2021, pushed back to later in 2022. Like you, I also expect a Covid vaccination question as part of it, too.
