New AFLDS issue brief cites zero viral clusters tied to flights, opposes vaccine mandates on passengers and crews

Los Angeles, CA – America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) today released their latest Issue Brief, “Helping America Soar Again: Recommendations for Domestic Air Travel,” which opposes mandating so-called “vaccine passports” for all passengers and crews traveling by commercial aircraft in the United States. AFLDS points out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s own guidance acknowledges that the coronavirus does not spread easily on planes because of the way cabin air is filtered and that there have been no coronavirus clusters associated with air travel in the US. Furthermore, as of late February, COVID-19 cases are down 77% here, reducing the effect vaccine passports would have on transmissibility while seriously undermining the constitutional rights of all travelers. The Issue Brief is available here.

Airline revenues have plummeted as a result of COVID-19, with losses topping $35 billion by at least one estimate and air travel down 70 percent from pre-pandemic levels. By reducing Americans’ ability to travel freely through a mandated vaccine passport, federal public health officials and their industry allies would kill thousands of jobs and place an unprecedented policing power in the hands of a few government agencies. The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees unimpeded freedom of movement within and between states unless there is reasonable cause to suspend or otherwise restrict it.

“The federal government is barreling headlong into a vaccine passport requirement for passengers, pilots, and crews without listening to the science or heeding established constitutional law,” said AFLDS. “This proposal would place a new financial burden on the airline industry when it can least afford it and poses an unprecedented threat to personal privacy and freedom of movement. Our advice to policymakers and concerned citizens is simple: cases and COVID-related deaths are down; we are winning the war against this pandemic. Don’t ground air travel for no good reason.”

Read the AFLDS Issue Brief, “Helping America Soar Again: Recommendations for Domestic Air Travel,” on their website.