Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California posted a tweet predicting that the percentage of vaccinated Americans would jump from 60% to 80% if vaccination was required for air travel.
“Prediction: we can go from 60% Americans vaxxed to 80% if we require vaccines to fly,” Swalwell tweeted.
Some on social media approved of the idea of requiring vaccination to fly, but others decried the notion.
“Many, like my family, just simply will not fly until they make vaccines mandatory. #VaccinePassports” someone tweeted in response to the congressman’s post.
“It should have been mandated months ago,” someone else declared.
“Totalitarian much?” another tweet said in response to Swalwell.
“Prediction: restricting freedom of movement and travel leads to unchecked authoritarianism,” someone wrote.
“Vaccinated fliers will still catch & spread the virus,” another tweet declared.
“Why would we mandate medical interventions that do not stop infection and do not stop spread?” someone else queried.
There is currently no COVID-19 vaccination mandate for domestic air travelers in the U.S.
While American citizens flying to the U.S. from abroad do not face a vaccine mandate, some noncitizens flying into America do face such a requirement.
“You must be fully vaccinated to travel to the United States by plane if you are a non-U.S. citizen, non-U.S. immigrant (not a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident, or traveling to the United States on an immigrant visa). Only limited exceptions apply,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC reports that 60.8% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the agency, 64.7% of the population consisting of individuals ages 5 and above has been fully vaccinated, while 76.5% of that demographic has received at least one dose.