Canada unveils international vaccine passport
Beginning Nov. 30, you won’t be able to fly without this document
OTTAWA—Fully vaccinated Canadian travellers will be able to prove their status with provincially issued vaccine passports that sport machine-readable QR codes and the endorsement of the federal government — and starting Nov. 30, they won’t be able to fly without one.
Meanwhile, Ontario residents will need the newest version of the province’s vaccination credential to enter restaurants, gyms, concert halls and stadiums starting Oct. 22.
Ontario began issuing the newly standardized documents in the past week. The Ford government said Thursday that about four million Ontario residents had already downloaded the updated proof of vaccination.
Businesses, airlines or border authorities can use a scanning app that reads and verifies the QR code to verify customers’ vaccination status.
The QR code links only to basic vaccination information, but not to any broader medical information database, officials say.
Federal officials are confident that other countries will accept the “pan-Canadian” standardized document, but said work is ongoing to ensure international partners recognize it as Canada’s proof-of-vaccination card.
In eight provinces and territories including Ontario, the new proof of vaccination can be downloaded now to smartphones or printed in hard copy form.
B.C., Manitoba and Alberta are expected to have their QR-coded, Canada-stamped versions available by Nov. 30.
The federal government has already announced that passengers leaving from Canadian airports or using interprovincial trains will need to be fully vaccinated starting Oct. 30.
At a background briefing, officials told reporters that there is no single proof of vaccination document that has been accepted internationally, and that the situation is “fluid.”
But they are working with international health and border authorities, and other countries “so they can understand that this is a standardized, provable, verifiable Canadian document that they can be ready for at any border.”
Officials said the design of the QR-coded documents contains security measures to prevent tampering and forgery and comply with an international standard for digital health documents.
Speaking in French, Trudeau said Thursday that if “one or two provinces take more time to implement this program, people will still be able to use their current vaccine passport for domestic and probably international travel as well, but we will be actually adopting this national program very very shortly.”
His office later said the new format will be required for international air travel after Nov. 30 but couldn’t clarify whether everyone will need to download a newer, updated QR-coded version of their current vaccine passport for domestic travel purposes.
The Star’s request for clarification to Transport Canada and the minister’s office went unanswered.
A senior government official, who briefed reporters earlier on condition they not be identified, said that although there had been discussions about creating a federally issued document, there was “limited value” in duplicating the databases of provinces and territories which hold the medical data and vaccination information of their residents.
The new standardized documents say “Country of issuance:” above the “Canada” logo, and include the holder’s full name, date of birth, vaccination status, number of doses, vaccine type, product name and lot number, and the date they were vaccinated.
“I’m confident in the security of it,” said Julia Zarb, professor of digital health technology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
She said it should allow businesses to verify a person’s vaccination status “in reasonable ways” while ending the patchwork of documents that were issued by provinces.
Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Yukon are already issuing the newly standardized document.
Nevertheless, it won’t solve some problems, such as whether those with mixed vaccine doses can enter countries that have not yet approved use.
Officials say travellers must still verify the entry requirements with their destination country.
Trudeau also announced Friday that the government is set to receive Pfizer-BioNTech doses for children aged five to 11 as soon as Health Canada approves an application submitted Monday.
An agreement calls for PfizerBioNTech to supply Canada with 2.9 million doses.
Currently, COVID-19 vaccines are only approved for those aged 12 and over.
The federal government says more than 81 per cent of eligible Canadians aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated, and more than 87 per cent have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.