Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced that in the coming weeks, proof of vaccination credentials will be required for both domestic and international travel.
As one of the countries leading the world in vaccination rates, Trudeau announced outside a children’s hospital in Ottawa that, “as Canadians look to start traveling again, there will be a standardized proof of vaccination certificate. We’ve worked very closely with airline operators to ensure that it is as easy and seamless a process as possible.”
The vaccine credential used in Canada will feature Canada’s “wordmark” emblem, aimed to provide government officials with easy recognition as a trusted Canadian document. It will include each users: name, date of birth, and a Covid-19 vaccine history including the type of vaccine received, doses and the dates those doses were administered.
The digital document will have a QR code for scanning at many public venues and the government will also be working with the World Health Organization (WHO) so that the credential is accepted as proof of vaccination beyond Canada’s borders.
Beginning October 30, this new mandate will be one of the strictest in domestic travel anywhere in the world as all travelers 12 years of age and older will be required to show proof of full vaccination in order to travel
According to Our World in Data, more than 73 percent of Canadians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with nearly 58 million doses given. To date there have been over 1.7 million cases reported with just under 29,000 deaths in Canada.
According to the latest COVID-19 Travel Recommendations by Destination list created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Canada is listed under Level 3: COVID-19 High. This comes with the recommendation that all travelers are fully vaccinated before traveling and unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to these destinations.