'Reopen the land border'; Windsor Ont, Mayor reacts to Canada surpassing U.S. double dose vaccination rate

Windsor, Ont -

According to data from the vaccine tracker at CTV News, 48.8 per cent of Canadians have been fully vaccinated.

That same data indicates just 48.1 per cent of Americans have both shots.

Furthermore, 70 per cent of Canadians versus 55 per cent of Americans now have their first doseas of late July.

Windsor Ont., Mayor Drew Dilkens say he isn’t surprised.

“I knew as soon as we had enough supply, the majority of Canadians would want to step forward and get vaccinated.”

Dilkens hopes the statistics will help sway Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ease restriction even further at the Windsor-Detroit border.

“We’re at the point now, where you don’t even need an appointment to go into a mass vaccination site because we have enough supply in the system, so I think the next logical step here is to start reopening the land border.”

Late Thursday in a parliamentary memo, Trudeau hinted at easing restrictions by mid-August for fully vaccinated Americans wishing to enter Canada.

That same note indicated the borders would reopen to the world, in September, but only if the vaccination rates continue to climb.

Officials, including Dilkens, expect an announcement about the border early in the week.

The current border restrictions are slated to expire on July 21.