the uk still cannot travel directly to the us for this reason, but us residents can travel to the uk. I think AstraZeneca is the issue. The us hasn’t approved it so have not used it themselves. It was a sticking point a couple of months ago when they started negotiating. Appears it hasn’t been resolved.
I was reading the other day that the AZ issue was purely the issues with the final phase testing not having sufficient over 65s in the cohort. For some reason AZ is not even seeking approval from the FDA for use within the US, so who knows if that will be fixed. As for it being the reason for not being let into the US I have no idea on that.
One significant driver that's not getting much of a mention here is overseas students.
I am aware that universities have ramped up distance ed. and on-line tutoring but I am sure that is not as financially rewarding as having dorms full of foreign stude
It was definitely in the news early on, but public sentiment is way off on those lot. Letting a few students in from places like China or India to fill the coffers of perceived rich/rorting universities is a political minefield.