After nearly two long years of closure, the US will finally open its land borders with Canada and Mexico next month in November to fully vaccinated travellers.
Brian Higgins, New York Rep., announced on Tuesday in a statement about the border reopening. “At long last, there is action by the United States to open the doors and welcome back our Canadian neighbours,” Higgins said.
While Canada opened its land border to the US back on Aug. 9, the US took some more time to reopen their side for Canadians.
According to White House officials, travellers will need to have both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to enter the country, and will need to provide proof for vaccination. However, they will not need to show a negative COVID-19 test result as required by air travel into the US.
The details and requirements are still being ironed out at the moment, while Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland advised Canadians to be mindful of this while making travel plans to the US.
“I think it’s really important for Canadians to listen closely to the advice from PHAC, from Canadian medical authorities and to just be careful. We have almost, almost, gotten past COVID. We have high national vaccination rates,” Freeland said.
“Just try to do the things you need to do and maybe hold back on doing the things that you just want to do. And I think if we can keep on doing that for a few more weeks, Canada can really fully put COVID behind us.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it will accept travellers who have been immunized with vaccines authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization. This includes AstraZeneca, COVIshield, Sinovac and Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNtech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.
Officials are still considering whether or not to allow travellers with mixed vaccines. Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said officials are working hard to get other countries to recognize the vaccinated status of Canadians with mixed-dose vaccines.
“(U.S. officials) are still working everything through at their end, so we are waiting anxiously to see what — what they will be doing at their end,” Tam said.
Currently, over 82.42 per cent of Canadians aged 12 and over have been fully vaccinated with both doses while 88.23 per cent have had at least one dose.
