August 26, 2021

Canada has reopened its southern border to fully vaccinated U.S. travelers. After almost a year and a half of non-essential travel restrictions at our land ports of entry, the U.S. is the only North American country that continues to enforce restrictions until at least September 21. 

With northbound waits of up to six hours at the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry during the past months, the Chamber continues to urge the administration to lift restrictions that hurt our border community. Chamber staff has also been very active on media outlets stressing how border restrictions and delays continue to economically impact businesses across our region.

In the meantime, the Biden administration is developing a plan to require nearly all foreign visitors to be fully vaccinated. Interagency working groups are working on a policy and implementation process, including the determination of what would be accepted as proof of vaccination and whether all vaccines would be accepted. 

In Mexico, President Lopez Obrador announced that following a phone call with Vice President Harris, the U.S. confirmed the donation of 8.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccines will arrive in Mexico in the coming weeks and will contribute to help increase vaccination rates in border communities.

Locally, Mayor Todd Gloria met with Baja’s Secretary of Health to discuss vaccination efforts, reported cases across the region, and a new program to vaccinate migrants in Baja.