Flying home after the holidays? Getting vaccinated or boosted is the first step toward safe travel, expert says

For Americans traveling after Christmas and New Year’s, getting their Covid-19 vaccinations or booster doses as soon as possible is critical to safely avoid serious illness, one health expert told CNN on Saturday.

Amid a surge of cases nationwide fueled by the Omicron coronavirus variant before the holiday season, parts of the country are reporting increased hospitalizations and deaths. And people need to be prepared for a heightened risk of infection during travel by taking preventative measures, according to Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the school of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

“If you’ve only gotten two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, even though that officially counts as fully vaccinated, we know that its impact on breakthrough symptomatic illness is close to zero,” Hotez told CNN’s Amara Walker.

The initial two-dose regiment will still protect “better for serious illness,” he said, “but you still need to get boosted, I think, if you want to travel safely.”

Booster shots may take two weeks to provide peak immunity, doctors have said, meaning the sooner one gets vaccinated, the better. Other steps, including wearing a quality mask, can help lower risk of infection.

New Yorkers scramble to get free COVID-19 test kits distributed by the city in light of surging positivity in recent weeks on a corner of Church Avenue and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York on December 24, 2021. City announced distribution of 2,000 kits in each of the five boroughs on December 24, 2021. Huge line of people assembled around the distribution place for more than 5 blocks in Brooklyn. Distribution started later than it was announced and a crowd swirled around the van where kits were given out. Eventually 12 police officers were called to control the crowd and distribution proceeded after that peacefully.

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Millions of Americans who are immunocompromised should delay future travel plans for a few weeks if possible in the hope that the current surge won’t span as long as previous ones, Hotez said.

And due to the infectiousness of Omicron, “even if you’re boosted, you have to face the possibility that you could get symptomatic breakthrough illness going through airports and going on Ubers,” he said.

The US has fully vaccinated nearly 62% of its total population, leaving millions unvaccinated at higher risk for serious illness and death from Covid-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And more than 31% of those inoculated have received additional doses or boosters.

Even though early research indicates that Omicron may cause less severe illness than the Delta variant, the recently detected strain is highly contagious and threatens to strain health care resources, officials and experts have warned. A hallmark of the season has been the shortage of Covid-19 testing kits – a crucial tool in attempting to assuage the fast-moving virus.

Travellers go through the south security checkpoint in the terminal of Denver International Airport Friday, Dec. 24, 2021, in Denver. More than 200 flights were cancelled by carriers out of Denver International because COVID-19 issues have created a shortage of workers.

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Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said while there’s always a risk to contract the virus while traveling, there are mitigation efforts available.

“So if someone has been exposed in your orbit or in your circle, or has been infected, you don’t have to assume everybody has it. Do continue to do things like wearing masks around people or testing,” Faust told CNN’s Boris Sanchez on Saturday.

And for those traveling, Faust advises to look for “the weak links in the chain.”

“It’s not necessarily the actual airplane itself. It might be the airport line in the bathroom where you need to be extra careful with masks and other mitigation measures,” he said. “And I think depending on your threshold, you have to adjust accordingly.”

People receive free at-home Covid-19 test kits at a distribution site on January 2, 2022 in Stamford, Connecticut.

At-home Covid-19 tests, taken by Chicago Public Schools students, are piled up at a FedEx drop-off box in the neighborhood of West Elsdon on Tuesday, December 28. The school system extended the return deadline to December 30 and expanded drop-off sites.

A woman shows proof of vaccination against Covid-19 to enter Times Square for the New Year's Eve ball drop in New York on Friday, December 31.

A health care worker prepares respirators for Covid-19 patients at the IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, Indiana, on December 28.

Paramedic Dan Harris, center, walks National Guard members through the ins and outs of the ambulances that they will be driving in Brockton, Massachusetts, on December 28. Guard members received clinical support and Covid-19 training from Brewster Ambulance.

A digital billboard encourages travelers to wash their hands at Atlanta's international airport on Monday, December 27.

Medical workers in New York prepare Covid-19 tests at a testing site inside the Times Square subway station on December 27.

People scramble to get free Covid-19 test kits that were distributed by the city in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday, December 24. With coronavirus cases surging during the holidays, frustrated Americans have been struggling to get tested.

Maia Goodell receives a Covid-19 test in Times Square on Thursday, December 23.

Travelers wait in a security checkpoint line at Orlando International Airport on December 23.

A health-care worker hands out a test kit at a testing site in Riverside, California, on December 21.

Cars line up at a testing site at Miami's Tropical Park on December 21.

Travelers line up for Covid-19 testing at Boston's Logan International Airport on December 20.

A health-care worker signals she is ready to distribute free testing kits at a site in Philadelphia.

People in Philadelphia wait in a line to receive free at-home test kits on December 20.

Drivers wait in line to be tested at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium parking lot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on December 18.

Travelers prepare to get off an American Airlines flight in Washington, DC, on December 18.

Cars line up at a drive-thru testing site at Miami's Tropical Park on December 17.

People line up to be tested for Covid-19 at a testing booth in New York on December 17.

Radio City Music Hall is seen in New York on December 17. The "Christmas Spectacular" was canceled due to a Covid-19 surge in New York.

US President Joe Biden meets with members of the Covid-19 Response Team at the White House on December 16.

A health-care worker administers a vaccine to a person at Miami's Tropical Park on December 16.

A sign indicating canceled performances hangs at the front entrance of the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York on December 16.

Registered nurse Bryan Hofilena attaches stickers on the body bag of a Covid-19 victim at a Los Angeles hospital on December 14.

Travelers wait in a line December 10 for a security check at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

A nurse collects a nasal swab sample from a traveler at a Covid-19 testing site at the Los Angeles International Airport on December 10.

In pictures: America facing new spike in Covid-19 cases

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Treatment options narrow for Omicron

With millions traveling, Omicron was partially responsible for the Christmas weekend cancellations of about 1,700 flights within, into or out of the US, according to aviation tracking website FlightAware.

Airlines, including Delta and United, have said they are experiencing staffing shortages due to Omicron, which became the dominant strain in the US last week as officials announced a new wave of measures to combat the spread.

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As for fighting Omicron, currently there is one monoclonal antibody treatment that is still expected to be effective against the strain, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday in a statement.

It is “unlikely” that the treatment known as REGEN-COV or the combined use of bamlanivimab and etesevimab “will retain activity” against Omicron, according to the statement. That means sotrovimab is the sole monoclonal antibody treatment currently available to fight the Omicron variant.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response has moved to halt allocations of the other monoclonal antibody therapies and that 300,000 additional doses of sotrovimab will be available in January, the agency said.

The US is also experiencing a shortage of the monoclonal antibody treatment Evusheld, which will only be given to people who have compromised immune systems and do not have active Covid-19 infections. Federal officials purchased up to 700,000 doses of the preventative drug – enough to help only one-tenth of the estimated seven million people who are eligible.

The Covid-19 vaccine is administered at a pop-up clinic in the international arrivals section of Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, on December 22, 2021.

Minorities are still at higher risk for Covid-19’s most severe outcomes

From the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, racial and ethnic minority communities have been bearing the brunt of Covid-19 – whether through illness, deaths or economic struggles.

Nearly two years on, some of those disparities remain.

Racial and ethnic minority groups who had other health conditions and contracted Covid-19 were more likely to have a higher in-hospital mortality rate than White patients, according to a study published Thursday in JAMA Health Forum.

A healthcare worker arranges Covid-19 testing kits at an Essex County site in West Orange, New Jersey, New Jersey, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. New Jersey on Tuesday reported another 34 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 6,840 confirmed cases, driving the states seven-day average for new positive tests above 6,000 for the first time during the pandemic, reports New Jersey Advance Media. Photographer: Christopher Occhicone/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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The study, which tracked data from more than 14 million hospitalizations in Medicare beneficiaries between January 2019 and February 2021, found a decline in non-Covid-19-related hospitalizations and an increase in Covid-19-related hospitalizations across the board.

But “the average rate of Black and Hispanic Covid-19 hospitalizations exceeded that of White beneficiaries through February 2021,” researchers wrote.

“Beneficiaries hospitalized with Covid-19 were more likely to be from racial and ethnic minority groups relative to hospitalized beneficiaries prepandemic,” they also noted.

The “persistently widened disparity” in non-Covid-19 mortality may be connected to factors including differences in access to Covid-19 testing, access to care and changes in case mix and care quality related to pandemic factors, the authors wrote.

For Covid-19 hospitalizations, mortality was not “significantly different” for Black patients when compared to White patients, but mortality rose 3.5 percentage points in Hispanic patients.

The researchers suggested that a “spillover effect,” which increased Covid-19 hospitalizations, may have shifted the distribution of hospital resources “potentially widening racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes.”

For non-Covid-19-related hospitalizations, mortality in Black patients rose nearly 0.5 percentage points more than in White patients, “a 17.5% increase over the prepandemic mortality rate among Black inpatients.”

CNN’s Virginia Langmaid and Elizabeth Cohen contributed to this report.