Want to skip Canada’s quarantine hotels? Depends on which COVID-19 vaccine you got

As of July 5, all fully vaccinated travellers entering Canada will be exempt from the mandatory 14-day stay inside one of the country’s COVID-19 quarantine hotels — but only if Health Canada authorized the vaccine that the traveller used.

Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada reiterated this caveat on Saturday.

“Fully vaccinated travellers allowed to enter Canada may be exempt from federal quarantine and day 8 testing starting July 5. Only vaccines approved by the Government of Canada will be accepted,” the agencies tweeted.

So far, the federal government has approved four vaccines for use: Pfizer-BioNtech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

The enforcement of this rule could spell trouble for travellers from countries like China or Russia, where much of each population was given the Sinovac and Sputnik V vaccines, respectively.

— More to come.