‘Avoid Cruise Travel, Regardless of Vaccination Status’: CDC Updates Guideline in Response to Omicron Surge

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new travel guidelines on Thursday, advising Americans to avoid cruise ship travel regardless of their vaccination status.

CNN’s Ryan Nobles, filling in for CNN Newsroom anchor Ana Cabrera, spoke with CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen about the new advisory.

The CDC had raised the travel warning up to its highest level, said Cohen. “They are saying, look, even if you’re vaccinated we would suggest that you not go on cruise ships,” because the Omicron variant was “so transmissible.”

A source had also told CNN that the FDA was days away from broadening eligibility for Pfizer’s Covid-19 booster shot to children ages 12 to 15 years old, Nobles reported. Those who received the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine at least six months ago, or who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least two months ago, would be eligible for a booster — just like the eligibility for adults and those 16 years of age or older.

Nobles then brought on Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, a viral researcher, who remarked that it was “excellent news” to hear about the pending expansion of booster eligibility.

“Let’s talk now about the new advisory from the CDC as it relates to cruise travel,” said Nobles, who then read directly from the CDC’s statement. “They said, quote, avoid cruise travel regardless of vaccination status.”

“Now, this isn’t them locking down cruise travel,” he pointed out, “It’s still going to be available to Americans but they are strongly discouraging people from doing so.” He then asked Rodriguez how this new advisory should impact people’s travel decisions.

Rodriguez compared being on a cruise ship with “more than 4,000 other people on a day-to-day basis” as “equivalent to being in Times Square every day,” even if everyone was vaccinated.

“It’s an excellent recommendation,” he declared, noting that cruise ship passengers tended to skew a little older. “I think people need to take this seriously and just start using common sense.”

“This infection, this virus, is not going away any time soon, so if you believe that this is just going to be one phase and that you can soften the requirements, you know, then you’re just fooling yourself,” he concluded. “That makes no sense to go on such a large cruise ship where you’re exposed to so many people on a daily basis.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.