The request comes after the fire chief of Point Roberts, a small Washington enclave connected to B.C., wrote a letter to officials outlining why it would benefit a community that's been hard-hit by the border closure.
VANCOUVER The day after the fire chief of Point Roberts, Wash., made an appeal to U.S. and Canadian officials to be permitted to give Canadians excess doses of COVID-19 vaccine, B.C.’s top doctor confirmed a number of cross-border discussions have been underway. “You know the people I’ve been concerned about are cross-border truckers,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday afternoon. “I’m not aware of any programs that have started at this point,” Henry said. “But that’s something we talk about.” Saskatchewan and Manitoba have already worked out deals that allow truckers to be vaccinated in North Dakota.
Point Roberts wants to share excess vaccine supply with Canadian neighbors
The Point Roberts Fire Chief is asking that Canadians be let into the small town to take advantage of their excess supply of vaccines. Author: KING 5 Staff Updated: 3:52 PM PDT April 30, 2021
POINT ROBERTS, Wash. After a successful vaccination rollout, the small town of Point Roberts, Washington, is asking elected officials to share their excess supply with their Canadian neighbors.
Point Roberts is surrounded by water on three sides and shares its only land border with Canada. The small town has been isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic due to extended border closures between the two countries.
Dave Navarro Jr/Shutterstock
The fire chief of Point Roberts, WA, is proposing an exemption of sorts to the US-Canada border closure to allow Canadians to travel to his community for COVID-19 vaccinations.
“We need to be helping each other out during this pandemic,” Chief Christopher Carleton told Daily Hive.
As such, Carleton said he has proposed three options:
The first option would be to give dual citizens who live in the Lower Mainland the ability to come to Point Roberts, get vaccinated, and not have to quarantine when they return home, “as they would never leave their vehicle” and only interact with someone who’s been fully vaccinated.
Community leaders in the small town of Point Roberts, Wash., are offering up excess doses of COVID-19 vaccine to people in B.C. Some British Columbians have properties in the American town that borders Canada while being cut off from the rest of the United States. Point Roberts Fire Chief Christopher Carleton says 70 per cent of residents have been immunized and the town would like to share vaccine starting with Americans living in B.C. and B.C. residents with properties in the town. Officials in Alaska recently made a similar offer to share COVID-19 vaccines with residents of Stewart, B.C., with hopes that could lead the Canadian government to ease restrictions between Stewart and the tiny Alaskan border community of Hyder.