The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace takes the health and safety of conference participants seriously and requires participants to take measures to prevent, as far as possible, the spread of COVID-19.
The Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, where the conference is to take place, has been awarded the GBAC (Global Biorisk Advisory Council) STAR Accreditation. The ballrooms are equipped with air exchange and filtration that exceed standards recommended by the American Society of Heating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Vaccination requirements
Participants are required to be fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved or authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or with a vaccine listed for Emergency Use (EUL) by the World Health Organization (consistent with Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requirements for non-U.S. citizens’ entering the United States).
Participants are also required to receive a vaccine booster at least 14 days prior to the start of the conference if they are residents of a country that offers boosters.
We have contracted with WellCheck, a digital health pass service, for vaccine verification processes. This service enables registrants to digitize COVID-19 Vaccination Record cards by uploading a picture of the vaccine card into WellCheck’s HIPAA-compliant system where it will be validated by State or Country Health Department registry.
Registrants will be contacted by WellCheck via email and provided with a registration link beginning August 25. You MUST complete this process in advance of the conference. Participants who fail to do so will be refused admission.
We will NOT accept a negative COVID-19 test instead of proof of vaccination, except in the case of participants who are medically ineligible to be vaccinated or boosted. Such participants are required to carry such proof of a negative PCR or antigen test taken within the previous 48 hours.
Failure to follow these procedures will result in exclusion from the conference.
We reserve the right to make vaccination requirements more stringent—including by requiring proof of an additional (second) booster shot—depending on the state of the pandemic, public health guidance, and vaccine availability. We will give participants as much notice as possible of any change, but we encourage all participants to receive additional booster shots as soon as they become available.
Prior to the opening of registration, on May 2, we will announce the procedures for obtaining proof of vaccination (or proof of medical ineligibility to be vaccinated) from all participants.
Masking, social distancing, and testing
Because of the pandemic, we are reducing the size of the conference from 800 participants to approximately 400-500. We strongly encourage the use of masks and will make them available to all participants.
We request that all participants voluntarily take a COVID-19 test within 12 hours of the start of the conference. Participants who test positive or exhibit COVID-19 symptoms should refrain from attending and will be offered a full refund.
We will exclude any participants who fail to adhere to safety measures we put in place for the conference.
Refunds
We will NOT offer any refunds on account of any COVID-19 safety requirements we put in place, including to any participants who are excluded because they do not meet vaccination requirements or fail to follow safety rules. However, we will offer a full refund to any participant who cannot attend because they test positive for COVID-19 or exhibit its symptoms.