Canadian health officials announced on Monday that American citizens who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be allowed entry into Canada for non-essential travel, beginning next month. The Public Health Agency of Canada said in an official update that beginning Aug. 9, Americans who have completed regimens of approved vaccines can enter the country for discretionary travel if they can provide proof of vaccination and meet several other criteria. Unvaccinated American children under the age of 12 will also be allowed entry after Aug. 9 if accompanied by a qualified parent or adult guardian.
When the new rules are implemented, non-essential travel between the United States and Canada would be allowed to resume for the first time since the earliest stages of the pandemic in March 2020. The government said it intends to further open its borders starting Sept. 7 when it will allow fully vaccinated travelers from any country to enter Canada as long as they can show they had become immunized at least 14 days before entry.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters his government has been in “close communication” with the U.S. administration about the move, saying: “I can tell you that as we made decisions around reopening to the world in early September and to American travelers a few weeks before that we kept the American government fully apprised of exactly those issues,” adding, “every country makes its own decisions about its own borders.”