Canada removes vaccine mandate effective October 1

Canada is opening up its borders and that’s good news for unvaccinated athletes.

Beginning October 1, Canada will no longer enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement at the border.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has agreed to let a cabinet order enforcing mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements at the border expire Friday.

This means any unvaccinated athlete will be allowed to play games in Canada, just in time for the beginning of the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association seasons. Unvaccinated Major League Baseball players are also allowed free passage into Canada should the Toronto Blue Jays make the playoffs.

“We are able to do this because tens of millions of Canadians rolled up their sleeves and got vaccinated,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said.

More than 80 percent of all Canadians are currently vaccinated against COVID-19, and the Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said “Canada is in a much better position” than earlier in the pandemic thanks to widely available vaccines.

The country will also no longer require random testing airports and filling out information on the ArriveCan app. Masks will also no longer be required on planes or other public transport.

“The removal of border measures has been facilitated by a number of factors, including modelling that indicates that Canada has largely passed the peak of the Omicron BA.4- and BA.5-fuelled wave, Canada’s high vaccination rates, lower hospitalization and death rates, as well as the availability and use of vaccine boosters (including new bivalent formulation), rapid tests, and treatments for COVID-19,” the government said in a statement.

The World Health Organization said earlier this month COVID-19 related deaths have hit their lowest point, but people should still get vaccinated if they haven’t.