Canada May Soon Drop COVID Vaccine Requirement for International Travelers

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- If you haven't had a COVID vaccine, you can’t travel to Canada, but that could change soon.

The vaccine requirement for foreign nationals in that country is likely to be eliminated by the end of September, the Associated Press reported, citing an official close to the matter who wasn’t authorized to speak about it.

That change could affect travelers such as unvaccinated Major League Baseball players, who could travel to Toronto if the Blue Jays play in the postseason.

Whether a similar requirement for the United States will also end this month isn’t known, the AP said.

Even unvaccinated travelers who are sometimes allowed to enter Canada must take mandatory arrival tests and quarantine for 14 days. The government also requires random COVID testing at airports and using the ArriveCan app to fill out other information.

If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signs off, those restrictions are also likely to go, the AP reported.

The vaccine requirement should have ended long ago, said Dr. Andrew Morris, an infectious disease specialist at the University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, as well as a professor in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine.

“Zero benefit to ensure people vaccinated. It doesn’t keep cases nor variants out,” Morris told the AP.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on international travel during the pandemic.

SOURCE: Associated Press