The Hamilton Spectator

Ontario pushes for mixed-jab acceptance

Province calls on Ottawa to make case for countries to accept travellers who received two different vaccines

HOLLY MCKENZIE-SUTTER

TORONTO — Ontario has asked the federal government to ensure Canadians who received mixed COVID-19 vaccines will be recognized for international travel as border measures lift.

Health Minister Christine Elliott and Solicitor General Sylvia Jones wrote to Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and other officials on Sunday about the issue.

“We ask the Government of Canada to work with the WHO to update its guidance to international partners that mixing vaccines should be internationally accepted as a complete vaccine regimen,” they wrote.

Ontario and other provinces have offered residents the option of taking one shot each of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines or an mRNA shot after a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. Provinces offered the mixed option this year as the country grappled with a shifting vaccine supply schedule and concerns over a rare but serious blood clot linked to the AstraZeneca shot.

The ministers wrote that it’s critical for “the integrity and confidence” in Canada’s and Ontario’s vaccination programs that people who “have done the right thing” by taking doses of two different vaccines are considered immunized abroad.

“As the federal government opens international travel, we believe these Ontarians should also be considered ‘fully immunized’ by other countries both at international borders and in their activities within those jurisdictions,” they said.

They argue that the OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine, which is not approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Authority, should be seen as valid internationally “on any certificate or passport.” That shot is listed for emergency use by the WHO.

Concerns have been raised in recent weeks about potential barriers facing people who mixed their COVID-19 shots.

The U.S. has been reluctant to sanction the practice of following a Moderna shot with a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, or vice versa, while many European countries don’t recognize the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot made at the Serum Institute of India, which may affect Canadians who received it. Several cruise lines have also said they won’t accept customers who have received different types of vaccine, or mixed brands at all.

Meanwhile, Premier Doug Ford repeated on Monday that he doesn’t believe in a vaccine certification system in Ontario

“It’s just not needed,” Ford said, speaking in Ottawa. “So we’re going to have people 80 per cent — hopefully — fully vaccinated and we just don’t need it.”

He said it’s up to the federal government whether to create a vaccine passport for international travel, and if it does, he’s “not going to balk at that.”

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2021-07-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

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