Canada launches new standard COVID-19 vaccine travel certificate

• The proof-of-vaccination certificate will have a Canadian identifying mark and meets major international smart health card standards.
• The document will include a person’s name, date of birth and COVID-19 vaccine history — including which doses a person received and when they were inoculated.
• Canadians will not be able to board a plane for foreign or domestic travel without a proof-of-vaccination certificate beginning November 30.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that a new standardized COVID-19 vaccination travel certificate is being launched by the country’s government.

“As Canadians look to start travelling again, there will be a standardized proof-of-vaccination certificate,” Trudeau said, urging Canadians who have not done so to get vaccinated as soon as possible. “We can end this pandemic and get back to the things we love.”

The national government will pay for rolling out the standardized vaccination passport, Trudeau said. “We will picking up the tab.”

In Canada, healthcare is largely delivered by provincial governments and mostly financed by the national government, sometimes leading to political squabbles about jurisdiction and who pays for what.

Some provinces, including Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and all three northern territories, have already started using the national standard for a proof-of-vaccination certificate, Trudeau said.

New digital travel document, dubbed Vaccine Passport, will have a QR code for scanning at airports, train stations and other points of entry.