Here's how Ontario's enhanced vaccine certificates will work

Oct 15 2021, 4:36 pm

Ontario has officially started the rollout of its enhanced COVID-19 vaccine certificates, and not surprisingly, people have questions.

How to download

For those who are wondering when they can download it, the province has broken it up into cohorts by birth month. Those born from January to April can download their new enhanced certificate beginning Friday. Anyone born from May to August can download on October 16, and everyone else can download it beginning on October 17. As of October 18, anyone will be able to download it.

If you don’t have a smartphone, you can use a printed copy with a QR code. If you don’t have access to a printer, hang on to your original certificate, it will still be accepted at businesses.

While individuals can continue to use their current vaccine receipt if they feel more comfortable doing that, we encourage everyone to download their vaccine certificate with your QR code as an easier, more secure way to have your proof of vaccination verified,” Minister of Health Christine Elliott said at a press conference.

Need help adding the QR code to your phone in an easily accessible way? A group of very kind volunteers built a way to do just that if you’re an iPhone user with Apple Wallet. Click here to use the online tool.

What about the app?

Verify Ontario/Province of Ontario

The app that the internet went wild about yesterday is for businesses only. It will be used to scan individuals’ vaccine certificates when they try to access places requiring vaccination proof.

The app to scan the new enhanced vaccine certificates is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. How businesses deploy the new app will be left up to businesses.

Don’t forget to bring your ID, as businesses will still have to check them alongside the enhanced certificate. The app will also accept QR code vaccine certificates from other provinces that have adopted the SMART Health Card, including Quebec, British Columbia and Yukon Territory.

When someone enters an establishment that needs to check vaccination status, they will show their QR code to the person checking at the door, along with a piece of government-issued ID, their QR code will be scanned by the Verify Ontario app, and in seconds the app provides the result. A checkmark if you meet the eligibility requirements,yellow warning if the QR code is not valid, and a red X if the individual does not meet the vaccination criteria,” Kaleed Rasheed, the associate minister of digital government, said at a press conference.

Verify Ontario/Province of Ontario

Again, the original vaccine certificates without a QR code will still be accepted at businesses requiring vaccination proof.

What about medical exemptions?

In time, Minister Elliott said that there would be QR codes available to people who have a legitimate medical exemption.

She said that people with medical exemptions would eventually be able to take their medical notes to their local public health unit, where they will be entered into the COVAX system. Once that process happens, they can access a QR code to scan to show their proof of medical exemption.

“We need to go through that process first, and then the QR codes will contain the relevant information. That’s going to take a little bit of time, we don’t have an exact date for that, but it’s going to be up to the individuals to take that information once they get their medical exemption to their local public health unit,” said Elliott.

Here are all the places Ontarians need to show the certificate to enter:

  • Dining indoors at a restaurant (but not getting takeout or eating on a patio)
  • Gyms and fitness centres
  • Cinemas
  • Nightclubs (including outdoor nightclubs)
  • Meeting or event spaces including banquet halls and conference centres
  • Sports events
  • Casinos and other gambling establishments
  • Concerts and music festivals
  • Horse racing venues
  • Strip clubs, bathhouses, and sex clubs

Brooke TaylorBrooke Taylor

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