Adrian Dix said that COVID-related restrictions for coming into Canada could remain in place for years to come. BC’s Health Minister was being interviewed by Seattle-based KING-5 News this week following the reopening of Canada’s borders to fully vaccinated Americans.
He warned that U.S. travellers should keep proof of their vaccination status handy.
"They're going to have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the foreseeable future. I don't mean weeks or months, I mean years," said Dix.
He also appeared to confirm reports that the U.S. will require arriving travellers to also be vaccinated as it prepares its own, phased, border reopening plan.
"This is the privilege of being vaccinated, crossing the border, both ways."
Even if the U.S. land border reopening is, as reports suggest, months away, Dix said that unvaccinated Canadians should brace for the fact that they will most likely not be allowed into the States without similar proof of vaccination status.
"If you live in Vancouver or Trail or anywhere else, and you're unvaccinated, you're not going to go to a Seahawks game or shop in Bellingham," he said. "There will be some things you're not able to do if you're not vaccinated, and that's just a practical reality."
Currently, Canada’s rate of vaccination exceeds that of the U.S., which is combatting both a sharp rise in infections, especially of the Delta variant - as well as vaccine hesitancy / rejection.
Dix’s comments highlight that it may be a very long time before vaccination and infection rates even out on both sides of the border. Even if travellers and the governments of both countries are eager to eliminate restrictions and restart travel, the elusive ‘herd immunity’ that would allow requirements to be dropped may not be achieved, as the health minister indicates, for years, if ever.
