Categories: Lifestyle

Canada officially suspends vaccine mandates for domestic travel

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Well folks, the day has come! After close to two years of the rules, Canada has suspended vaccine mandates for domestic travel in the country. Here’s what the know about today’s announcement.

Basically, the involved parties point towards Canada’s relatively high vaccination rate (90% nationwide) and falling hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 on average, across the country. As a result, it will lift some restrictions for non-vaccinated Canadians starting on Monday, June 20th.

As of 12:01AM EDT that day, the following changes will take effect:

The vaccination requirement to board a plane or a train in Canada will be suspended.
In addition, federally regulated transport sector employers will no longer be required to have mandatory vaccination policies in place for employees.

On the flipside, some of the existing rules will stay in place for the time being:

Due to the unique nature of cruise ship travel, vaccination requirements for passengers and crew of cruise ships will continue to remain in effect.
Masking and other public health protection measures will continue to be in place and enforced on planes, trains, and ships.
Current border measures, including the existing vaccination requirement for most foreign nationals to enter Canada, and quarantine and testing requirements for Canadians who have not received their primary vaccine series, remain in effect.

So yeah, it’s pretty much just the vaccine mandates in Canada getting suspended that are the big deal here. For more information on the changes, head to the Government of Canada website.