Canada rolls out federal Covid vaccine card for domestic and international travel

Canada federal Covid vaccine card for domestic and international travel
SMART HEALTH: Canadians can now store a digital proof of Covid-19 vaccination on a mobile device

Residents of Canada can now download and store a digital version of the country’s new federal proof of Covid-19 vaccination card on a mobile device that supports the Smart Health Card format.

The Canadian government has introduced the standard federal vaccine card to enable residents to meet new requirements for providing proof of vaccination whenever they travel by air, rail or passenger ship both within the country and internationally.

“Provinces and territories may also ask you to use this proof to access non-essential services,” the federal government says.

The card contains a QR code that “will include your vaccination history and may include additional information about the Covid-19 vaccination you received” and is being rolled out nationally in addition to the vaccination documents already issued by individual provinces and territories.

Canadian residents will still be able to use their provincial Covid-19 vaccination certificates for non-essential activities such as going to restaurants or sporting events.

The move comes as Ontario announces that Apple users can now upload a digital version of the province’s recently launched “enhanced vaccine certificate with official QR code” to a device running iOS 15.1 by scanning the QR code and storing the digital certificate in Apple Health or Apple Wallet.

“Google Pay is not currently compatible with the enhanced vaccine certificate,” the Government of Ontario says.

“Android users can save their vaccine certificate to their device using a file management or cloud storage app such as Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox.” 

Next: Visit the NFCW Expo to find new suppliers and solutions