MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Canada to reopen land borders to vaccinated US nationals effective August 9

Fully vaccinated US citizens or residents will be spared a quarantine in Canada but only if they took Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or J&J

The Government of Canada Monday announced it will reopen its land borders to US citizens who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of August 9.

All land crossings had been closed in March 2020 for all travel deemed non-essential and the arrival by air of citizens and permanent residents were restricted to control the spread of the virus.

Starting September 7, Canada will also allow travellers from the rest of the world who have completed the immunization schedule 14 days before their arrival in the country.

The reopening will allow vaccinated Americans - or permanent residents of the United States - to travel to Canada without having to serve a two-week quarantine, as is currently the case. Children under 12 years of age, for whom the use of COVID-19 vaccines have not been approved, will also not need to quarantine.

In addition to admitting only people who have been injected with specific brands of vaccine -namely Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson- the immunizer alone will not be enough since travellers shall also be required to produce a negative COVID-19 test performed three days before they arrived in Canada.

So far, 70.14% of the Canadian population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 49.17% already have the complete schedule.

Canada will also expand to nine the number of airports that international travellers will be able to reach. Now all flights from abroad are only allowed to land in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. As of August 9, Halifax, Quebec City, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Edmonton will be added to the list.

Health Minister Patty Hajdu said in a statement that “with the increase in vaccination rates and the reduction of cases in Canada”, the authorities can begin to relax “safely” border restrictions.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said that Canadian authorities “have been fully involved” with their US counterparts, “given the deep economic and family ties between the two countries.”