EU will allow vaccinated American tourists to visit this summer

This summer, American tourists who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to travel to the European Union, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told The New York Times on Sunday.

Nonessential travel to the EU has been banned during the coronavirus pandemic, with just a few exceptions. The United States has been quickly vaccinating people — 42.2 percent of the total population has received at least one dose of a Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine — and as all three are European Medicines Agency-approved, "this will enable free movement and the travel to the European Union," von der Leyen said. "Because one thing is clear: All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by EMA."

Von der Leyen did not say when exactly American tourists will be able to arrive, only clarifying that restarting travel depends on"the epidemiological situation, but the situation is improving in the United States, as it is, hopefully, also improving in the European Union."

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EU and U.S. officials have been spending the last several weeks discussing how to make vaccine certificates that are easily readable and will give American tourists the ability to travel without restrictions, the Times reports. Greece, which depends on tourists visiting in the summer, announced last week it will allow Americans to enter the country beginning on Monday, as long as they can show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test.