The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday that starting January 22, essential workers who are not US citizens will be required to present proof that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 19 to enter the country.
The measure applies to those who enter through land ports and ferry terminals at the borders between the United States and Mexico, and between the United States and Canada.
The vaccination requirement to enter the country had already applied since November to non-US citizens who were not considered essential workers, when the border was reopened for the general population.
The new measure will apply to workers considered essential such as nurses and truck drivers, who had been exempt from the vaccination requirement imposed on November 8 for the rest of the non-citizens.
Vehicles at the San Ysidro port of entry, after the opening of the United States borders on Monday, November 8, 2021. Gregory Bull / AP
The United States' land borders with Canada and Mexico
were closed to non-essential travel
for 20 months due to concerns about COVID-19.
"These updated travel requirements reflect the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to protecting public health, while safely facilitating cross-border trade and travel that is critical to our economy," said Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, as stated in the DHS statement.
[The Biden administration will create an intelligence group to monitor groups of migrants heading north]
Unlike air travellers, people crossing land borders
are not required to show a
recent negative COVID-19 test.
These changes—which were first announced in October 2021 and made in consultation with the White House and various federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—will align public health measures governing ground travel with those governing inbound international air travel.
Do I need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to be a US citizen?
Jan. 20, 202201:02
On January 15, Canada imposed
its own vaccination mandate
for American truck drivers crossing the Canadian border.
Since more than two-thirds of the 650,000 million Canadian dollars (521,000 million dollars) of goods that are traded annually between Canada and the United States travel by road, according to the aforementioned agency, truck drivers were considered, until now, essential workers. and
they traveled freely
, even when the Canadian border was closed for 20 months.