Canada is bringing to a close its draconian Covid-19 vaccine border policies, and will not ban travelers who haven’t been fully vaccinated against the Covid virus from entering the country.
Those traveling to Canada also no longer will need to make an appointment on the ArriveCan government app that Canada has used to track travelers. People will not need to upload their proof of vaccination and their travel itineraries into the phone app. In addition, Canada will no longer require people to wear face masks on public transportation, including commercial air carriers.
The announcement was made after several days of rumors on social media. Canadian officials say the population is now well vaccinated and the hospital rates are lower, due to more treatments and booster vaccinations that target new variants, such as the Omicron variants.
The border policies have been irregularly enforced and error-prone, according to many travelers. Towns of Skagway and Haines in Alaska have been hard hit because of the policies, which have prevented the free flow of tourism traffic between Canada and Alaska.
After both countries closed their borders in March of 2020, the United States eased its border policies over a year ago, and Canada reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from the United States and Mexico last November, and later to travelers from other countries who were vaccinated and boosted.
More information is available from the Canadian government’s traveler website.
