Mixed dose regimens causing travel confusion as U.S. opens to travellers with any WHO-approved vaccine

Windsor, Ont. -

This past summer, Canadians were told the first vaccine offered is the best one.

“I felt like I was just trying to do the right thing,” resident Mike Eaton, who is fully vaccinated with Pfizer and Moderna, said.

So local residents like Eaton, along with nearly four million Canadians chose to receive a different vaccine for their second shot, but now their mixed dose regimen is causing travel headaches.

“I researched I thought enough, but I never thought about the implications of travel,” Eaton said.

As of November, in order to fly to the United States travellers will need to be double dosed with one of the six vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the World Health Organization (WHO).

Travellers may also be required to have two doses of the same brand as the U.S. Centre for Disease Control does not recognize people with mixed doses as fully vaccinated.

“We have left no stones unturned to advocate,” public health officer of Canada Theresa Tam said. “The AstraZeneca vaccine followed by an mRNA vaccine actually gives you a better vaccine effectiveness.”

Canada has presented its data on the efficacy of mixed doses to the U.S., but American officials have not said if travellers with different shots will be allowed to enter the country.

“We’ve already booked two flights to Florida, both of which we had to cancel,” said, Dusty Zamecnik, EZ Grow Farm general manager who received mixed doses.

The uncertainty means he will have to postpone crucial in-person meetings with his American clients.

“We have to continually further explain to our customers why, and hope to God you know, that there is a continual level of understanding,” he said.

“The natural option would be for Ontario to offer a third booster for those people so they will have two doses that line up with the other,” travel insurance broker Martin Firestone said.

As for the U.S. land borders, they remain closed to non-essential travel until at least Oct. 21, regardless of vaccination status.