Those who contemplated going across the border to get their COVID-19 vaccine may be exempt from having to quarantine.
In an email from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) CEO David Musyj, health officials confirmed that receiving a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is an essential medical treatment.
Under the federal government's quarantine exemption list, a person who must leave and return to Canada to receive an essential medical service in another country could be exempt from having to self-isolate for 14 days if they provide two pieces of documentation at the point of entry.
The documentation must include written evidence from a licensed health care practitioner in Canada who indicated that the medical services or treatments outside Canada are essential unless the services or treatments are for primary or emergency medical services under an agreement with another jurisdiction.
Also required is written evidence from a licensed health care practitioner in a foreign country who indicated that the services or treatments were provided in that country.
"Transportation to and from the location should be via a private vehicle and only those who are in quarantine together are permitted in the same vehicle. During transit, infection prevention and control practices, including wearing a mask and physical distancing, are required," PHAC said.
Musyj and health officials with WRH say they continue to work on the issue that would allow people to cross the border with proof of said service.
"We are asking for clarification on who PHAC deems is a 'licensed healthcare practitioner,'" Musyj said. "Is that only a medical doctor or broader definition? Aside from this, we are still working on having 'excess' USA/Michigan COVID-19 vaccines being brought into Canada. However, those discussions are also occurring on a Federal and provincial government level."
Last week, Musyj announced that he wrote a letter to Health Canada asking for vaccines from the United States through a program that requests access to medications needed to treat communicable diseases that are scarce or unavailable in Canada.
"Bottom line, the current wording does allow for an exemption from quarantine and does include receiving a COVID-19 vaccine as an 'essential medical service or treatments,'" Musyj added. "However, it is a case by case determination on whether one will be exempted from quarantine on return and you need to follow the rules."
