Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is discussing vaccine passport policies with allied countries, and if all goes well, nationals are expected to resume traveling abroad by summer. In addition, one million doses of the Modena vaccine, which was scheduled to arrive next week, will arrive earlier on Wednesday.
Trudeau told a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday that nationals could begin traveling abroad by summer. Canada’s policy will be in line with other countries when it comes to providing some form of documentation of vaccination required for travel. Canada is working with allies, particularly in Europe, on vaccine passports or documents,” he said. We are watching the situation closely and want to be consistent with our allies. But ultimately it’s up to each country to determine its own requirements for incoming travelers.”
Yves-Francois Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois, said Tuesday that he supports the concept of vaccine passports for international travel, but argued that the U.S. does not appear interested in requiring such documentation from travelers.
Trudeau responded that U.S. travelers may be required to prove they have received the New Crown vaccine before entering Canada, regardless of whether the U.S. requires Canadians to provide similar proof. He said, “Our responsibility is to take all necessary measures to protect our nationals, even if there is not automatic reciprocity with other countries, we will do that.”
1 million Modena arrives early today
In addition, Trudeau revealed that one million doses of Modena vaccine, which was scheduled to arrive next week, will arrive Wednesday night, a week earlier than originally planned, and that they will be distributed almost entirely to provinces and territories by the weekend.
The early delivery of the vaccine shows a seeming easing of Modena’s repeated delays in delivering the vaccine due to production problems. Last month, the company cut the 1.2 million doses scheduled for delivery by the end of April to 650,000; in February, the country received only 180,000 doses of Modena vaccine, compared to the 230,400 originally expected.
Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand said Canada is in talks with Modena to ensure a more regular delivery schedule going forward.
To date, more than 16.8 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed across the country’s provinces and territories. With increased vaccination efforts, the country will receive up to 36 million doses of mRNA vaccine in the next two months, including 24.2 million doses of Pfizer vaccine and between 10 and 12 million doses of Modena vaccine.
Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said vaccination is making progress nationwide, “but there are still some tricky areas.
She said there are still many severe or symptomatic cases, and the decline in the number of cases nationwide has slowed to less than 2 per cent over the past week, with an average of 7,900 new cases reported daily. In addition, an average of nearly 4,300 people were treated in hospitals each day over the past week, with more than 1,450 in intensive care units and a daily average of 47 deaths.
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