OTTAWA — The federal government is launching a national COVID-19 vaccine passport that Canadians will be required to use for international travel starting Nov. 30, 2021. Each province and territory will be responsible for issuing a new standardized document, rather than creating a federal database to log health information.

The vaccine passport will include the holder’s name, date of birth, QR code and COVID-19 vaccine history, including type of vaccine, number of doses and date of administration. All passports will also contain a “Canada” watermark in the top right-hand corner.

The passports will have verification measures and security features that will prevent forgeries, according to the government. Foreign border officials can either manually read the information or scan the QR code. The new Canadian COVID-19 proof of vaccination can also be used with ArriveCAN app when submitting information upon return.

The passport is already available to Canadians whose provinces and territories have issued vaccine credentials: Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Yukon. The remaining provinces are set to issue their passports within the next month.

“We’re very confident that this proof of vaccination certificate that will be federally approved, issued by the provinces with the health information for Canadians, is going to be accepted at destinations worldwide as proof of vaccination,” said Prime Minister Trudeau in a news conference.

The federal vaccine mandate for employees and passengers in air, rail and marine transportation sectors takes effect this week. There’s a short period of time where proof of a negative COVID-19 test will be accepted to board, but that option will not be available by the end of November.

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