4 Countries The CDC Warns You Should Not Travel To No Matter Your Vaccination Status

4 Countries The CDC Warns You Should Not Travel To No Matter Your Vaccination Status

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its travel recommendations on Tuesday, adding four countries to its highest risk level category as it advised against traveling to these destinations even if fully vaccinated.

The CDC added Poland, Trinidad and Tobago, Niger, and Papua New Guinea to the Level 4 “very high” risk category, saying that because of the current COVID situation in these countries, “even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.”

The agency also went on to say that if travelers “must” travel to these countries, they should be “fully vaccinated.”

The four countries were moved to Level 4 as their COVID case count increases and concern over the Omicron variant rises. Although, the four destinations have not reported any cases of the Omicron variant to date.


The CDC determines Level 4 “very high” destinations when they have more than 500 cases of the virus per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

There are over 75 countries listed as Level 4 “very high” risk for travel for Americans by the CDC based on COVID case count.

While Poland, Trinidad and Tobago, Niger, and Papua New Guinea were moved up to Level 4, the CDC dropped four destinations from the category to Level 3 as their COVID situation improved.

Movers included Costa Rica, Bermuda, French Polynesia, and Guyana. The CDC still recommends that travelers are fully vaccinated before traveling to these locations.

The CDC deems a destination as Level 3 or “high” risk when it has between 100 and 500 cases of the virus per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

Also receiving updated recommendations from the CDC were the British Virgin Islands and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which dropped to Level 1 or “low” risk for travel.

A Level 1 category is determined by the CDC when a location has less than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past 28 days.

The CDC also added several African destinations on Friday to its recommendations after the warning came from South Africa about the Omicron variant. These countries included Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, and Eswatini (Swaziland).

IMAGESWarsaw's streets are empty after Poland banned public gatherings of more than two people and restricted freedom of movement in fight against the spread of coronavirus. IMAGESWarsaw's streets are empty after Poland banned public gatherings of more than two people and restricted freedom of movement in fight against the spread of coronavirus. Photo: AFPTV / Damien SIMONART