If you received two different COVID-19 vaccine doses, international travel may have to wait a while longer.
Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says officials are talking with other countries to see if they will recognize Canadians with mixed doses as being fully immunized.
Dr. Tam says while some European countries have already agreed because they also administered mixed doses, you should be sure before you book any travel.
“They must check in with the specific country requirements prior to travel because it is a bit of a varied landscape out there, but we are doing everything we can to facilitate that recognition,” she says.
If you want to head to the United States, Dr. Tam says right now main question is whether it will recognize AstraZeneca doses.
“We’ve been presenting our data, for example, on the vaccine effectiveness of the mixed dose schedule such as AstraZeneca followed by mRNA vaccines,” Dr. Tam explains.
The United States never approved AstraZeneca’s vaccine for use, so Canada has been providing its own figures that the U.S. can use to make its own decision.
AstraZeneca seems to be the current focus, as Dr. Tam underlines “The issue isn’t with the mRNA vaccines in terms of interchangeability.”
While she says talks are going well, the U.S. border is still closed to non-essential travel for Canadians.
