US land border opening to fully vaccinated travelers from Canada and Mexico in November
The United States land borders with both Canada and Mexico will finally open to fully vaccinated travelers for the first time in 18 months from November.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed non-essential travel from the two countries would be allowed, including to visit family and friends, through land and ferry border crossings following an announcement of reopening to air travelers made last month.
Full details including proof of vaccination and the eligibility of mixed-dose vaccines will be announced soon. The Centers for Disease Control has still not approved some vaccines that have been issued to millions of people around the world, such as the Oxford/Astra-Zeneca vaccine. However, the CDC has said it will allow those with vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be accepted. That would include vaccines from China and the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The reopening announcement comes after recent news fully-vaccinated Europeans will also be able to enter the country from "early November" though the start date and conditions of entry are still to be advised. Inside sources now believe the "early November" date will slip to mid-late November due to the logistics required to set up a uniform process to allow documented visitors from dozens of countries into dozens of U.S. gateways.
Since 9 Aug. this year Canada has been welcoming fully vaccinated American visitors via land with the provision of a negative PCR test though until now this has not been reciprocated for Canadians wishing to enter the U.S after the borders were slammed shut back in March 2020 to try and stop the spread of COVID-19. The United States has since gone on to record more cases than any other country during the pandemic.
Related: Canada, US ease border restrictions
Unvaccinated foreign travelers will still be banned from entering the United States until further notice. From January 2022 this will include essential workers such as truck drivers if they wish to cross land borders in and out of the country
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