Breaking News: Border Changes for Fully Vaccinated Canadians Begin July 5

Breaking News: Border Changes for Fully Vaccinated Canadians Begin July 5

June 21, 2021 Jim Byers

As of July 5, fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents of Canada will no longer have to undergo 14-day quarantine or stay at quarantine hotels, Public Health Canada officials announced today.

Health Minister Patty Hajdu said fully vaccinated travellers also won’t have to take a home COVID-19 test eight days after entering the country. Travellers will still have to undergo tests when they arrive in Canada and that fliers have to take a test before their departure.

Travellers will still need to be asymptomatic, and have an adequate quarantine plan in place in case border officials determine a period of self-isolation is required, CTV News reports.

Those with only one vaccine dose or no inoculations will still have to book a quarantine hotel for three days while they wait for their test results. If they’re negative, they’re free to go home or to a private residence and finish the rest of their 14-day quarantine there.

In order to be considered fully vaccinated, travellers will have had to have received a full series of a vaccine, or a combination of vaccines that have been authorized by Health Canada— Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD, and Johnson & Johnson—at least 14 days prior to entering the country.

Hajdu said medical issues such as hospitalization rates and vaccination rates will be carefully monitored as time goes on, but she didn’t outline any specifics for when the border might be opened more widely. Hajdu said the government is monitoring the situation not only in Canada but in parts of the world with highly elevated.

Ottawa will come back to Canadians later with more details on the metrics required for further reopening, Hajdu said.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Canada’s ban on flights from India will continue to July 21, but that flights from Pakistan will be allowed.

The Trudeau government in the past few weeks had repeatedly said it could begin to ease travel restrictions when 75% of Canadian adults (kids 12 and under aren’t recommended for vaccinations) had one vaccine and 20% of adults had two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. That figure was reached on the weekend. But the goalposts have shifted, and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair is now saying Canada needs to have 75% of adults fully vaccinated before it can further loosen border rules.

“The payoff for Canadians, and for all of us, is when we reach that threshold, we’ll be able to accommodate significant easing of the border [restrictions],” Blair told the CBC’s David Cochrane on the Power and Politics show.

Canada also could begin welcoming fully vaccinated tourists when the country reaches the 75% vaccination mark, Blair said. That seems unlikely to happen before August at current rates.

“I think that will mean an easing of restrictions on fully vaccinated travelers and the lifting of the current prohibition on non-essential travel,” the minister said.