Canada may start letting in vaccinated tourists

Canada's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Teresa Tam, said federal officials are reviewing the conditions under which they can allow vaccinated travellers to enter the country or open the borders completely to all.

On Friday, May 21, an emergency meeting of the health committee focused on when the 14-month-long closed-borders regime would finally come to an end.

According to Tam, it's not just a question of whether to let fully vaccinated people into the country. It's also important to consider the situation in Canada itself: the number of people vaccinated, the rate of COVID-19, and the capacity of hospitals. In addition, there is not yet a uniform standard of proof that a traveller has been vaccinated, although Canada is open to the introduction of electronic vaccination passports.

MP Marcus Povlovski, a representative of the small federal district of Ontario, which is on the border with the United States, said that thousands of businesses are hoping for American tourists. In the States, more than a third of the population is fully vaccinated and authorities have allowed them to travel without restrictions or quarantine compliance. Last week, the European Union allowed fully vaccinated tourists to travel to the U.S. Canada has not yet adopted any relaxations for immunized residents, and Povlovski believes it is time to do so.

"If there are no American tourists this year, businesses will go bankrupt and many people will lose their livelihoods," he said. — I think it's a reasonable question: when can we expect fully vaccinated people, especially Americans, to be allowed into Canada?"

According to Tam, the rules of entry may change before the fall because the epidemiological situation in Canada is improving. However, passengers will still have to take COVID-19 tests.

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