federal transport minister omar alghabra announced friday that proof of vaccination will soon be required for flying on a plane or taking a train within canada .
domestic air and rail travel join a growing list of public and private services that are being subject to vaccine passports. this includes attending classes in person at many universities and working in the federal public service or at crown corporations. as of sept. 1, quebecers age 12 and over will need to have received their two doses to dine in restaurants, drink in bars, work out at the gym — even participate in an as-yet unspecified list of extracurricular activities in high school.
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there will be those who will object, but too bad. we require proof of vaccination from u.s. visitors, now that the land border into canada has reopened. europe is doing it for tourists from abroad this summer. canada is now whipping up vaccine passports to facilitate international travel. it makes perfect sense that we’re finally making vaccination a prerequisite for domestic air travel, too. until now, this has been one of those inconsistent and incoherent blindspots of evolving pandemic policy.
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vaccination isn’t foolproof, of course. according to montreal’s public health department, a third of new cases in the city in recent weeks are linked to international travellers. this is despite the fact most were reportedly fully immunized.
but with covid-19 sticking around for the long haul, cases on the rise again, a fourth wave underway and the delta variant running amok , we have to reduce risks where we can.
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