COVID-19 vaccines for truck drivers ‘right thing to do,’ Duclos says as mandate kicks in

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the federal government has a duty to control borders while the Omicron variant continues to spread.

Requiring COVID-19 vaccines for truck drivers crossing the border into Canada is the “right thing to do,” says Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos as a new vaccine mandate kicks into effect.

Unvaccinated foreign national truck drivers are not allowed to cross the border into Canada as of midnight Saturday, while unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers still have a right of return, but must test and isolate for 14 days. The U.S. will also tighten its border restrictions a week later on Jan. 22.

At that point, Canadian truckers will be denied entry to the States unless they’re fully vaccinated.

“That has been known for many months, and truckers in very large numbers have chosen to be vaccinated. That’s the right thing to do, not only to protect themselves, obviously, but also to protect their businesses and the industry,” said Duclos in an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson.

“We know that protecting against COVID-19 is not only the best health measure, but the best economic policy measure to apply to go through this crisis and to end it.”

Duclos’ comments followed a week that saw federal officials forced to clarify intentions around the policy after an official at the Canada Border Services Agency told reporters that the vaccine mandate set to kick in for truck drivers was being reversed.

A joint statement from federal ministers including Duclos on Thursday said the CBSA’s information had been sent “in error,” which Duclos acknowledged was “confusing.”

“The federal government has a responsibility to look after borders. We need to secure our borders in this emergency context, where there is a lot of Omicron traveling not only inside Canada, but outside of Canada,” he told Stephenson.