The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says people who got the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for the first dose can be offered either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna for the second.The advice affects more than two million Canadians who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine before provinces stopped using it for first doses last month as it is potentially linked to a rare but serious blood clotting syndrome.

NACI says it is basing their advice on the risk of the syndrome, and emerging evidence that mixing and matching different types of vaccines is not only safe but may produce a better immune response.

Manitoba didn’t wait for the guidance, announcing Monday they would offer AstraZeneca recipients Pfizer or Moderna if they wanted.

Quebec currently recommends getting the same vaccine twice but says with informed consent people who got AstraZeneca first can get Pfizer or Moderna.

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is looking to welcome Atlantic Canadian travellers who have had one dose of vaccine June 27 and other Canadians who are fully vaccinated on Aug. 8. New Brunswick is dropping its self-isolation requirement for Atlantic Canadians on July 1 and is hoping to open to other Canadians and travellers from Maine who have had one dose of vaccine on the same day.

Nova Scotia

As Nova Scotia begins emerging from its COVID-19 lockdown, a group of hotels in the Halifax area is appealing to the government for more clarity about when they can expect guests to return.

In a letter sent to Premier Iain Rankin, the Hotel Association of Nova Scotia said its 25 members need clear targets for a reopening of the province’s border so tourists and business travellers can make plans.

Association president Megan Delaney said that while hotels realize health concerns are the overwhelming priority for the government, they would like “dates with flexibility” outlining when normal travel into the province can resume.

Delaney, who is general manager of a downtown Halifax hotel, said her property and others have been getting customer inquiries since the province announced a five-phase reopening plan last Friday. But because the plan contains no target dates, it’s difficult for people to book.

“What we are having right now is either hesitancy to come, so they are just not booking yet, or people are sadly choosing alternate destinations,” she said.

Currently non-essential travel is restricted from most of Canada. People travelling between Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island need to self-isolate when they arrive in Nova Scotia and they also need to apply to travel to the province by completing a safe check-in form.

The first step of the province’s reopening plan takes effect Wednesday, with schools reopening, retail stores allowed to operate at 25 percent capacity and restaurant patios reopening at full capacity with physical distance between tables.

The plan is contingent on the province’s number of infections, its vaccine rollout and the capacity of its health-care system to manage new COVID-19 cases.

During a press briefing on Monday, Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said a steady decline in infections means the reopening plan will likely advance in two-week intervals instead of up to four weeks, as initially projected.

“Which means we could be in Phase 4 by the middle of July, which is where we would stay for the rest of the summer,” said Strang.

The fourth phase would allow people from the Atlantic provinces to travel to Nova Scotia and travellers from the rest of Canada would be allowed to enter under a modified quarantine that wouldn’t require 14 days, he said.

Darlene Grant Fiander, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia, said there are signs the government can adapt quickly as case counts drop.

However, she said tourism operators would like to see more coordination between the Atlantic provinces on when they plan to reopen their boundaries to travellers.

Nova Scotia reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. There are 369 known active cases of novel coronavirus with 38 people in hospital, including 15 in intensive care.

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is trying to revive its tourism sector by offering to subsidize vacations for out-of-province visitors when its boundaries reopen to the rest of the region.

The NB Travel Incentive program – offered only to New Brunswickers last year – will be extended this year to visitors from the rest of the Atlantic region, Tourism Minister Tammy Scott-Wallace said Tuesday.

The program provides a 20 percent rebate on eligible expenses up to $1,000 that are made during an overnight stay in New Brunswick.

Scott-Wallace says travellers to the province between May 27 and Oct. 31 can benefit from the program.

The government is planning to reopen its boundaries to visitors from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador next Monday and to Nova Scotians on July 1. Visitors from those provinces will not have to isolate for two weeks upon entry.

Tourism employs between 30,000 and 40,000 people in New Brunswick each year.

Meanwhile, health officials in the province reported five new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday. Officials said the new cases involve one person in the Moncton region, two in the Fredericton region and two people in the Bathurst area.

New Brunswick has 142 active reported cases of COVID-19 and five patients in hospital with the disease. There is one New Brunswicker hospitalized with COVID-19 in an intensive care unit outside the province.

The government has reported a total of 2,215 cases of COVID-19 and 43 deaths linked to the virus.

About 63.4 percent of New Brunswickers aged 12 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Quebec

Quebec Premier Francois Legault says gyms and indoor restaurant dining can reopen Monday in Montreal and its northern suburb Laval.

Legault told reporters today Quebecers should expect cases to rise in the region over the next few weeks because rules are easing, but he says the health-care system can handle it.

He says he is also easing restrictions across several other Quebec regions on Monday.

The government says it will announce a plan on Thursday that will allow Quebecers to advance their second doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

Quebec reported 208 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and five more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.

Health officials say hospitalizations dropped by eight, to 354, and 86 people were in intensive care, a drop of three.

The province says it administered 65,917 doses of vaccine since its last report, for a total of 5,648,992; about 61.3 per cent of Quebecers have received at least one dose.

Quebec says it will begin vaccinating temporary foreign workers when they arrive at the Montreal airport.

Ontario

All adults in Ontario can now book COVID-19 vaccine appointments.People turning 18 in 2021 can book Pfizer-BioNTech shots. Youth aged 12 and older can also book appointments across Ontario.

They can book through the provincial online portal, call centre and through pharmacies offering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the only shot authorized by Health Canada for use in youth aged 12 and older.

Ontarians, meanwhile, are getting the option to shorten the interval between COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Most people are being scheduled for doses four months apart, but officials say the new interval could be as short as 28 days.

The plan will start with seniors aged 80 and older this week and the province will later offer second shots based on when people received their first.

People will keep their original appointments if they don’t re-book.

The province aims to see all eligible Ontarians fully vaccinated by the end of September.

Ontario is also resuming use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine but only as a second dose.

Those who received the first dose of AstraZeneca between March 10 and March 19 during a pilot project at pharmacies and some doctor’s offices in several Ontario communities will be first in line to receive their second dose.

Ontario says more than 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have now been administered across the province.

So far 4.68 percent (687,894) of the population has been fully vaccinated. Ontario is reporting 699 new COVID-19 cases and nine deaths from the virus. The data is based on 20,262 tests.

The province says 804 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, including 583 patients in intensive care and 387 on ventilators.

Manitoba

Manitoba is using the Pfizer vaccine for everyone aged 12 and up, and the Moderna vaccines for people aged 18 and up. These are available through a few channels including so-called supersites in larger communities.

The province is also allowing anyone who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as their first shot to get their second dose from a vaccine made by a different company. The province has approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna as a second dose option for people who are eligible.

The province has opened up second-dose appointments to all Indigenous people aged 12 and up, to people with certain medical conditions such as severe heart failure and Down syndrome, and anyone who received their first dose on or before April 13.

Provincial health officials say they now expect 70 percent of Manitobans aged 12 and older to get a dose by the end of June.

So far, 62 percent of Manitobans over the age of 12 have been vaccinated.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan reported 86 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday. A person in their 70s in the central east zone has died. There were 181 more recoveries, leaving the province with 1,272 active cases. The province also reported 108 people in hospital, including 23 patients in intensive care.

Sixty-six per cent of Saskatchewan adults have now received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Starting today, those aged 65 and older, or who received their first dose by March 22, will be eligible for a second dose.

Alberta

A popular summer festival in Edmonton won’t be going ahead this year. Officials with Northlands say in a news release that K-Days will not take place this summer, despite Alberta’s Open for Summer plan to safely reduce and ultimately remove public health restrictions due to COVID-19.

They say they took a hard look at whether they could deliver a high-quality event given the limited timelines and resources.

Officials say they will work to relaunch K-Days in 2022.

The festival has taken a different approach than the Calgary Stampede, which is expected to go ahead with a modified version of the world-renowned rodeo and fair in Calgary in July.

British Columbia

British Columbia is setting an end-of-summer target for everyone in the province to receive their second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has also announced a decrease in the time between the first and second dose of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, cutting the interval to eight weeks from 16 weeks.

The province says guidance from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization on getting different COVID-19 vaccines for first and second doses will help inform the approach taken in B.C. for those who received the AstraZeneca shot. It says more information will be released later this week.

The rollout of second doses will be similar to the first dose, with those at the greatest risk at the top of the list. Seniors, Indigenous people and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable were to start getting their invitations to book a second shot by the end of May.

As of Tuesday, about 3.3 million doses of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines had been administered in B.C., which means about 70 per cent of all adults and 67 per cent of those 12 and older have had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Nunavut

Nunavut announced Monday that it would start offering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to youth ages 12 to 17 on June 15.

The territory will receive over 9,000 doses of Pfizer from Ontario in exchange for doses of the Moderna vaccine, which is currently the only one available.

Vaccination clinics for teens will roll out across the territory throughout June.Nunavut has opened vaccinations to anyone 18 and older. It is also offering shots to rotational workers coming from Southern Canada.

In the territory, 36.44 percent (14,113) of the population has now been fully vaccinated.

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is now offering vaccinations against COVID-19 to young people between 12 and 17.

The territory, which has only been using the Moderna vaccine, recently exchanged some of that for doses of the Pfizer product, which Health Canada has now approved for anyone as young as 12.

So far 51.74 percent (23,344) of the territory’s population has been fully vaccinated.

Yukon

The territory is now vaccinating children aged 12 to 17. The government says clinics in most communities will be held in schools, while those in Whitehorse can get their shot at the Coast High Country Inn Convention Centre. The children will be getting the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The territory says because of limited supply and stricter handling requirements, the vaccine will only be available for a short time.

It says second doses for those 12 to 17 will start on June 23 and medical travel will be supported for youth who aren’t able to make the clinic date in their community.

The Moderna vaccine is available to adults 18 years of age and older.

The government says 59.34 per cent (24,763) of the population has now been fully vaccinated.