Vaccine mandates trickled into the U.S. travel sphere last winter, picked up steam in the spring and hit fever pitch over the summer.

To eat at cafes in France or to go to New York City’s Broadway shows, and to fly commercially to Canada, you will need to get vaccinated.

Though mandates were expected for cruises and international travel, the pace and scope of activities that they now cover —  from booking group tours to staying in hotels —  has surprised industry experts.

Harry Nelson, the founder and CEO of Nelson Hardiman Health-Care Law Firm said that it was fascinating to see how vaccine mandates have been moving at a rapid pace.

According to him, while last month’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine has led to some mandates being enacted, these mandates are also driven by the “increasingly supportive public opinion” of the majority of vaccinated.

United Airlines appears to have adopted this approach. Staff granted religious exemptions to the airline’s recently-announced workforce vaccine mandate will be placed on temporary unpaid leave starting next month.  

The government has an “easy case” to refuse religious exemptions for vaccines against infectious disease, wrote Douglas Laycock, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, in an article published last week on Australia-based news site The Conversation.  

He wrote that even if religious objections may be sincere, there is a strong interest for the government to override them and insist that all people get vaccinated. This overrides all claims under the state and federal constitutions, or any religious liberty legislation. 

Laycock asked Laycock how far vaccine mandates could be challenged. He wrote, “Unless governments mandating vaccinations don’t defend their rules or the Supreme Court modifies the law, it is probable that the answer will not be far.

Nelson indicated that he believed that the U.S. Supreme Court would allow more religious freedoms to be enacted if it was given the chance.

The vaccine mandate process for hotels has been slow, although that trend is beginning to shift. Elite Island ResortsHighgate Hawaii (which operates seven Hawaiian hotels) and a chain of nine Caribbean resorts, Highgate Hawaii (which operates nine more), have both made mandatory vaccine policy announcements, along with others.

Kelly Sanders (senior vice president of operations at Highgate Hawaii) stated, “We believed strongly that it was right to do.” Sometimes, doing the right thing can be difficult. I expect more hotels to follow.

Flights may be next, if airlines follow the lead of Qantas’ CEO Alan Joyce, who indicated earlier this month that passengers will be required to be vaccinated on its international flights.  

U.S. officials are debating whether to require vaccinations to fly both domestically and internationally, as reported last week by The Washington Post. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor, said this month he would likely support a vaccine mandate for air travel.

Georgetown’s Gostin said he could foresee President Biden issuing a vaccine mandate for interstate or international travel, similar to the one his administration announced earlier this week for foreigners traveling into the U.S.

“But airlines themselves could also set this requirement,” said.  

No major U.S. airline announced such a policy to date.