Mixing doses - Canadians - Pfizer and AZ...

[jojal]

Just reading the threads on the main page about problems with testing for Canadians.  I'm sad about not traveling soon, but so glad I'm not going through that.  Not worth it.  With all the minute to minute changes, it's definitely not a great time to travel right now.

[CarolR]

We were supposed to cruise RCI in November.  My husband received the Pfizer/Moderna combo.  Myself and our adult son who was joining us had Pfizer exclusively.  My son is an amputee and requires an accessible cabin. My husband's vaccine was not acceptable as it was over 42 days between doses. We called RCI to cancel but they would not refund our money and we had to accept a future cruise credit.  We escalated it to a supervisor but they would not budge.  We had a carnival cruise booked for next fall so essentially we swapped cruises as Carnival is fine with our vaccine regimen. We are in a wait and see mode right now. Will the border open and will they accept our Canadian vaccine strategy. I'm not sure I even want to go to Florida at this point. I think our government did the right thing by getting doses into more arms.

[AlbertaCruisers]

Royal/Celebrity actually changed this further yesterday and no mixed vaccines are accepted now from the US.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-vaccines-are-accepted

 

Mixed Vaccines from Different Manufacturers

We understand some guests may have been vaccinated with doses from two different vaccine manufacturers. Whether these are accepted depends on where you are sailing from and the mix of manufacturers.  

For Cruises Departing from U.S. Ports 

The U.S. CDC has clarified their position regarding mixed vaccinations and provided updated guidance to Royal Caribbean. Currently, the CDC does not recognize any mixed combination of COVID-19 vaccines as fully vaccinated.

To be recognized as fully vaccinated, guests must complete a vaccine series with products from the same manufacturer with the last dose administered at least 14 days before their sail date.

The CDC has provided the following reference to support their decision:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html#Interchangeability

We continue to encourage the CDC and other U.S. government officials to re-evaluate this policy.

[K_e_short]

11 minutes ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

Royal/Celebrity actually changed this further yesterday and no mixed vaccines are accepted now from the US.

 

 

 

But Carnival's website still says:

 

For cruises departing the U.S., the CDC requires both vaccines in a 2-dose series to be of the same type. They also accept mixing mRNA vaccines only (Pfizer and Moderna). No other vaccine combination meets the criteria to be considered fully vaccinated. For example, Canadian or other international guests who received a combination of AstraZeneca and Pfizer are considered unvaccinated by the CDC. Guests who are not fully vaccinated, according to these criteria, will be considered unvaccinated and need to apply for a vaccination exemption.

[Nickles76]

17 minutes ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

 

The CDC has provided the following reference to support their decision:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html#Interchangeability

We continue to encourage the CDC and other U.S. government officials to re-evaluate this policy.

This last line tells me that they are reluctant in implementing this as it will affect their bottom line. SMH. Looks like my next vacation will be a land vacation outside the US. 

[tert333]

13 minutes ago, Nickles76 said:

This last line tells me that they are reluctant in implementing this as it will affect their bottom line. SMH. Looks like my next vacation will be a land vacation outside the US. 

Luckily the CDC does not control what is happening in Europe(unless the cruiselines decide to follow the CDC guidelines there).  Most allow mixing, but you will need to check each cruiseline.

[K_e_short]

2 minutes ago, tert333 said:

Luckily the CDC does not control what is happening in Europe(unless the cruiselines decide to follow the CDC guidelines there).  Most allow mixing, but you will need to check each cruiseline.

 

I have a transatlantic booked with Cunard for summer 2021. They are only doing Uk staycations right now and require vaccinations.

 

From what I have read on their website they are using UK standards for vaccinations and am hopefull they will allow AZ mixing.

[broberts]

1 hour ago, AlbertaCruisers said:

Royal/Celebrity actually changed this further yesterday and no mixed vaccines are accepted now from the US.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-vaccines-are-accepted

 

Mixed Vaccines from Different Manufacturers

We understand some guests may have been vaccinated with doses from two different vaccine manufacturers. Whether these are accepted depends on where you are sailing from and the mix of manufacturers.  

For Cruises Departing from U.S. Ports 

The U.S. CDC has clarified their position regarding mixed vaccinations and provided updated guidance to Royal Caribbean. Currently, the CDC does not recognize any mixed combination of COVID-19 vaccines as fully vaccinated.

To be recognized as fully vaccinated, guests must complete a vaccine series with products from the same manufacturer with the last dose administered at least 14 days before their sail date.

The CDC has provided the following reference to support their decision:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html#Interchangeability

We continue to encourage the CDC and other U.S. government officials to re-evaluate this policy.

 

For some reason the last link doesn't work. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html#Interchangeability should work.

 

Of interest to me in the link is, (The underline is mine.)

"If two doses of different mRNA COVID-19 vaccine products are administered in these situations (or inadvertently), no additional doses of either product are recommended at this time. Such persons are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 ≥2 weeks after receipt of the second dose of an mRNA vaccine.".

 

It's confusing. It says mixed mRNA are considered fully vaccinated and in fact a 3rd shot is not recommended. So why are cruise lines ignoring this guidance?

[DirtyDawg]

20 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

For some reason the last link doesn't work. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html#Interchangeability should work.

 

Of interest to me in the link is, (The underline is mine.)

"If two doses of different mRNA COVID-19 vaccine products are administered in these situations (or inadvertently), no additional doses of either product are recommended at this time. Such persons are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 ≥2 weeks after receipt of the second dose of an mRNA vaccine.".

 

It's confusing. It says mixed mRNA are considered fully vaccinated and in fact a 3rd shot is not recommended. So why are cruise lines ignoring this guidance?

It might just be the cruise lines need to get other interested parties to get onboard before they can follow the CDC guidance such as their insurance carriers, their bankers or their bond holders. 

[schiff1997]

SF General Hospital to give supplemental mRNA vaccine to people who got J&J shot

https://www.abc7news.com/health/sfgh-to-give-supplemental-mrna-vaccine-to-those-who-got-j-j-shot/10926455/

there is hope !

 

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by schiff1997
To add link

[Ciren219]

On 8/3/2021 at 3:57 AM, LucasLounger1 said:

Please report back on if you are successful getting a refund.  I'm thinking of trying for a refund over this, but I'm in a "non-refundable deposit".  The product they want to offer me is no longer appealing. 

 

I got a full refund from my fully paid Sept cruise on the Millennium. I asked to speak to a supervisor. That supervisor didn't come to the phone, but the person I spoke to relayed the information. I basically said the cruise line had changed its policy after I paid, preventing me from cruising. I also said a FCC does me no good if their policy prevents me from using it.

[tert333]

Princess is now allowing mixed vaccines outside of the US.  Here is a note from customer relations:

 

The vaccination requirements for voyages that are outside the U.S. will be different and will be based on the local jurisdiction’s requirements.

Outside the U.S. (for now), the mixing of one AZ vaccine and one mRNA vaccine is acceptable, and we would follow that guidance. But for the U.S. voyages, we would observe the CDC’s requirements.