TheWashington November 8 announcement is a long-awaited and welcomed green light, but some snowbirds are a bit concerned and leery about two aspects of the reopening fine print. While “fully vaccinated” specifies vaccines approved by either the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. officials say that there’s no worry because Oxford-AstraZeneca, a common vaccine in Canada that never received U.S. approval, is approved by theWHO. So, the 227,000 Canadians who received two doses of the AstraZeneca will be considered fully vaccinated and, with the FDA’s recent okay about mixing and matching vaccine doses, proof of mixed vaccine doses (including Astra Zeneca) is also acceptable. Although − for the time being − a COVID test is still required for entering or re-entering Canada, federal public health officials don’t rule out the possibility that the requirement may be eliminated at some point in the future. So, returning snowbirds will have to monitor the Health Canada rules before they head back home. Despite the much-awaited November 8 victory, border crusader Congressman Brian Higgins shakes his head and shrugs. “It’s inexplainable why the dragged-out U.S. land border closure for snowbirds and other vaccinated Canadians got so delayed and difficult. It was a long time coming. It should have happened six months ago.” SnowbirdProfile In August, when Canada took the lead and allowed vaccinated Americans to cross, disappointingly and still without explanations (particularly for Canadian snowbirds), the U.S. did not reciprocate and stayed closed. Border experts candidly speculated (although U.S. officials neither confirmed nor denied) that the touchy, no-comment culprit was the unique two-border problem. Bruce Heyman, the respected former U.S. Ambassador to Canada explained that, “Canada only borders the United States, but the U.S. borders Canada and Mexico. When decisions are made about the two borders, it’s highly complicated to say, ‘On one of our borders we’re doing X, and on the other border we’re doing Y.’” Another factor, and a likely cause for Washington’s delayed reopening decision-making, has been Mexico’s low vaccination rate combined with the aggressive U.S. spread of the Delta variant at a time when barely half of eligible Americans are double-vaccinated. According to rumour, the Biden administration feared political blowback if the U.S.-Canada border had a head start in reopening. Brian Higgins calls the U.S. procrastination “incomprehensible and arbitrary in light of what public health authorities are saying about the effectiveness of the vaccines. It flies in direct conflict with what all of us, on both sides of the border, have been told for the past 19 months: Follow the science! Even with the Delta variant, fully vaccinated people still have a very high level of immunity against giving or getting COVID. That had to be acknowledged. The dragged-out closure to vaccinated Canadians has been completely unnecessary, absurd, unjustifiable and aggravating,” Higgins roared with exasperation. “A robust cross-border exchange between the United States and Canada is fundamental to our binational relationship and mutually beneficial to our nations’ citizens, businesses and economies.” At long last, after intense pressure on the Biden administration to remove travel restrictions for non-essential border-crossers, it’s a go! The early November reopening after the 19 months of closed borders includes a requirement that non-essential, fully vaccinated travellers fromCanada andMexico will now be asked about their vaccination status at land crossings. Only the fully vaccinated are allowed through. Document proof of vaccination is a requirement only if selected for random screening. Now that it’s over, even though the drive-up kiosks are reopened and many Canadian snowbirds are revving their engines for the eager getaways to Florida, Texas, Arizona and the Coachella Valley, re-hashing the draggedout border commotion is important, because whether it’s a fourth wave or another health crisis, closing the world’s longest, unprotected border could happenagain. CSANews | WINTER 2021 | 13
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