bats

I would think hotels will be pissed off at all the 14 day bookings being cancelled at short notice. I suppose you'd have to pay for one night then cancel the rest of the stay

Shard

It worked for Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) didn't even have a passport with him.

Siouxie

See the link provided by OM, above

scilly

AZ vaccine does not seem to be approved for general use here. I know it has been used, but only for certain groups, and Dr Henry's advice has been have a mRNA vaccine for the 2nd jab if you had AZ as the first.

Certainly AZ does not appear to provide as strong a protection as the other vaccines.

How does that work for people arriving from, eg the UK, where AZ has been the main vaccine?

Will there be a list of approved and not approved vaccines?

scrubbedexpat091

"To be considered fully vaccinated, a traveller must have received the full series of a vaccine — or combination of vaccines — accepted by the Government of Canada at least 14 days prior to entering Canada. Currently, those vaccines are manufactured by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD, and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson). Travellers can receive their vaccine in any country, and must provide documentation supporting their vaccination in English, French or with a certified translation."


https://www.canada.ca/en/public-heal...g-canada3.html

OrangeMango

I am certainly also worried, but if bureaucrats, politicians and lawmakers describe "the Pfizer vaccine" as acceptable and BNT162b2 / Comirnaty / Biontech is the only development by Pfizer against Covid 19, than that must be the only acceptable answer. Also the fact that they mention on the official website that they accept any Canadian or PR who has been vaccinated in any country it would seem correct that Comirnaty as the name of the vaccine will be acceptable.

I would expect that CBSA officers will be trained on the proper international terminology of the vaccine as well and we are not the only Canadians arriving from the EU. We will most likely read about any issues in this field in the first few days after July 6th.....

Gozit

Agreed. My family wants me to fly right on July 6 but I reckon its better to give it a few days to let the dust settle and hear reports of how the system is working.

OrangeMango

Irony:
Nobody wants to run the risk, getting manhandled Gestapo-style upon arrival at the airport, then walked into some windowless basement interrogation office by a CBSA officer and interrogated why one didn't book or reserve the government mandated hotel.

:-)


I don't think that this will happen nor can they afford to have this kind of behaviour of their staff. However one wants to be on the safe side and not running the risk of encountering a CBSA officer who hasn't heard about the quarantine free entry of a Canadian or PR who has been vaccinated.

Former Lancastrian

Here is a true story about the Govt introducing policies & procedures at the border but forgetting to tell the staff at the border about the new policy & procedures.
Many years ago the Govt decided to increase the personal exemptions for returning residents basically meaning they could now bring back X amounts of goods duty free after being out of the country for X amount of time.
I was working the day shift and went to work as normal. Traveller returned declaring X amount of goods. Told said traveller that they were over the limit and would need to pay on the excess. Traveller got pissed at me and insisted I was in the wrong. After several minutes of back and forth and for some unknown reason I checked my work email. Well wouldn't you know there was an email received after I had first interacted with the traveller telling us about the new exemption limits.
So who was at fault? The traveller seemed to know about the new exemptions. The email had not been sent when I checked on starting my shift so how was I to know?

In cases like these then wouldn't it be beneficial for all concerned for the traveller to have the correct information at hand and if they feel the CBSA officer is wrong politely ask to be heard and offer the information or ask to see a supervisor rather than getting into a pissing match with the officer and insinuating how incompetent they are and should know their job as there is just the possibility that the officer might not be aware of the changes as they have not been timely informed.
The announcements they made yesterday are they clear and unambiguous or are there still questions unanswered? If you cant understand them then why is it not acceptable that a CBSA officer doesn't understand them?

OrangeMango

To be on the safe side, I'd say they should have said "Pfizer a.k.a. Biontech a.k.a. Comirnaty " instead of just "Pfizer". Otherwise things seem to be clear.

Siouxie

Don't forget you are still requred to have a quarantine plan ready to show... 'just in case' - even if not needed. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-heal...g-canada3.html

Gozit

Yes - though I don't anticipate this to be an issue as obviously i won't travel if i'm symptomatic, and I will have all paperwork ready in spades to prove eligibility for the exemption.

According to here - https://www.canada.ca/en/public-heal...eTd8NWlaSr6JIQ

and here - https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ph...vellers-en.pdf

If the CBSA officer approves my exemption then I don't even need to quarantine until the negative arrival test is received.

They updated the vaccine eligibility page to include the Comirnaty name for Pfizer so that issue is sorted. Looking like I will have all my ducks in a row.

OrangeMango

Sounds great !

According to the website:

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/tr...ntering-canada

it says:Accepted vaccines:

• Pfizer (Comirnaty, tozinameran, BNT162b2)
• Moderna (mRNA-1273)
• AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria, AZD1222, Covishield)
• Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) - single dose

Gozit

Have just noticed my vaccination certificate states I received my last dose on 08th June 2021, whereas the vaccine card correctly states 07th June. Something I should probably rectify.

OrangeMango

As long as you're over the 14 day limit, I'd say, you're fine, but if you're dealing with a bureaucrat you can never be sure.

The only bottleneck or challenge I would see in that process is to get a molecular test plus result 72 hours prior to arrival, which would be landing in Canada. ( Minus 8 hours for the flight.... )

Do airports do these kind of Covid 19 tests sort of "on the spot"? ( Amsterdam or Frankfurt ? ) Or would some other testing center do? In the worst case, I would have to cancel the whole flight, if I don't get the test pls result in time... Any experiences?