Starting Sept. 22, proof of vaccination will be required at many non-essential businesses in Ontario, including gyms and movie theatres, and will be needed to dine indoors at restaurants under the province’s new COVID-19 vaccine certificate program, government sources confirm to CTV News Toronto.
According to the sources, a vaccine certificate will not be required for retail shopping and outdoor dining but those who intend to go to concerts or other large, organized gatherings must be fully vaccinated. The provincial government is working on an app that will combine both identification and a proof-of-vaccination certificate for immunized Ontarians, sources confirm, adding that the government intends to embed this data into a personalized QR code, which will be ready in October. A separate app is in the works for businesses to be able to verify the contents of the QR code, which will also be unveiled in October. |
---------ADVERTISEMENT--------
|
It is unclear if the province plans to provide any additional proof of vaccination to residents before Sept. 22, when the policy comes into effect.
Premier Doug Ford will be making an announcement at 1 p.m., along with Ontario's health minister and chief medical officer of health. In recent days, Ford's cabinet has met multiple times in an effort to hammer out the details of Ontario's vaccine certificate program. Plans for vaccine passports have already been rolled out in multiple other Canadian provinces, including British Columbia, Quebec, and Manitoba. In B.C., residents must have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to access a number of non-essential settings as of Sept. 13 and two doses will be needed as of Oct. 24. |
About 83 per cent of Ontario residents 12 and older currently have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and about 76 are fully immunized.
In the absence of government policy, several businesses and sporting organizations in Ontario, including the Blue Jays and Toronto FC, have taken it upon themselves to require patrons to produce proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result to gain access to their facilities. Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist, told CP24 on Wednesday that Ontario will likely see vaccination rates climb following the announcement. "We will likely see a pretty reasonable jump in people booking their vaccines. We saw that in France, we saw that in Quebec, we saw that in B.C. I think we will probably see the same thing in Ontario," he said. |
He noted that while vaccine passports are important, they are not "the solution to the pandemic."
"This helps create a safer indoor space," he said. "This is not the only thing that needs to be done. This is one major policy decision that can be taken to keep places open."
Dr. Lawrence Loh, the medical officer of health for Peel Region, said vaccine certificates will be very helpful in high-risk settings in the community as well as schools.
"These (vaccine certificates) are particularly useful in settings in the community where measures like masking and distancing cannot be consistently maintained, particularly to protect individuals who may yet be unvaccinated," he said Wednesday.
Read more here.
---------ADVERTISEMENT---------
The best and affordable Email Marketing tool with a generous forever FREE plan, TRY IT HERE!
The No.1 Marketing Tools on SEO, PPC, Competitors' Analysis & more!
All-in-one SEO software
START EARNING COMMISSIONS QUICKLY with TRAFFIC DOMINATION, USING FACEBOOK!