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Like last summer, Santorini will be open (photo credit: Cristiano Pinto)

It’s official, the European Union will open its borders to travelers from around the world who are fully vaccinated this summer, with no testing or quarantine requirements. The 27 countries have come to an agreement which could mean lifting international entry restrictions as soon as next week.

Here are the details.

 

The EU announcement

There is not much to add, it’s fairly straightforward.

The data shows that being vaccinated greatly reduces the risk of transmission and these rational, logical countries have decided that those who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to enter this summer with no testing or quarantine.

Countries all around the world had already announced similar measures.

The EU has had an entry restriction for most nationalities for most of the last year. It should be removed for those who are vaccinated as per Wednesday’s announcement. It should be officialized in a vote next week.

Now, that doesn’t mean that others won’t be allowed: many countries have plans to reopen with a testing requirement for those who are not vaccinated.

(Like Greece for example, which we very much enjoyed visiting last summer ourselves; France as well; and many others.)

Like last summer, Mykonos should be open to Canadians (photo credit: Alex Korolkoff)

 

Every EU country can make its own rules and be less restrictive, to let even more travelers in among those who aren’t fully vaccinated (while those who are will be able to enter regardless of nationality).

But the EU as a whole will also add countries to its list of currently accepted nationalities for entry without vaccination continent-wide, which is currently very short.

As of now, Canada’s infection rates are too high to be on that list (which is a good reason to travel somewhere with lower infection rates instead of within Canada obviously). But that list will be updated every 2 weeks.

As for Canada: no plan, no objectives, no benchmarks, no clear targets, no analysis, nothing based on data. Just inaction. Again.

 

Being “fully” vaccinated

As we’ve said many times, if our federal government had focused on the most important thing—getting vaccines quicker—instead of wasting time and resources on ineffective hotel quarantines for example (when travelers clearly aren’t the problem—another federal Minister repeated it once again yesterday)…

… then Canada wouldn’t rank so badly in terms of vaccination (26th out of the 27 advanced economies in terms of fully vaccinated population).

Now, that failure has led to a “one-dose summer”, which means most Canadians won’t even be considered “fully” vaccinated for a while.

Of course, we will keep you updated with the list of countries that will be open this summer for those who aren’t fully vaccinated.

Please at least keep your options open and avoid the worst mistake (and also take your days off from work as late in the summer as you can) as we’ve said in our post about when international travel will be simpler.

Alternatively, so many of you have asked more details about how easy it was for us to go get vaccinated for free in the US, so we’ll share a detailed guide about that tomorrow.

Getting vaccinated for free in the US is very simple

 

What else would you like to know about all this, and what would help you plan your summer travels?

Tell us which of these posts would be useful to you in the comments (and feel free to add any suggestions):

  • How to get vaccinated in the USA (coming Sunday)
  • List of countries open to Canadians
  • Understanding all types of travel restrictions
  • How COVID-19 testing works
  • Current rules for interprovincial travel

 

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Summary

The European Union will reopen to fully vaccinated travelers this summer, possibly as soon as next week.

What do you want us to help you with? Tell us in the comments below.

 

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Featured image: Santorini, Greece (photo credit: Cristiano Pinto)

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Andrew D'Amours

Andrew is the co-founder of Flytrippers. He is passionate about traveling the world but also, as a former management consultant, about the travel industry itself. He shares his experiences to help you save money on travel. As a very cost-conscious traveler, he loves finding deals and getting free travel thanks to travel rewards points... to help him visit every country in the world (current count: 71/193 Countries, 47/50 US States & 9/10 Canadian Provinces).

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