Canada to receive nearly 250,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses in December

Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will be receiving its first shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year.

The Prime Minister says the first doses are expected to arrive sometime next week and says that up to 249,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will hit Canadian soil by the end of 2020.

This is a fast track of the government’s original COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan. Originally the first shipments were expected in early January. The new delivery date means some Canadians could be vaccinated before the holidays.

“It has been a difficult year, and we are not out of this crisis yet,” Trudeau said Monday at a news conference in Ottawa. “But now, vaccines are coming.”

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Federal officials have said that Canada will be getting four million doses of the vaccine by the end of the spring. The government has already bought 20 million doses in total and they have the option to buy 56 million more.

The country is also set to receive two million doses of the Moderna vaccine in the early part of 2021.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand is confident millions more from Pfizer and other vaccine makers will come in the new year.

“Throughout 2021, I want to assure you that millions and millions of vaccines will continually flow into this country once they are approved by Health Canada,” Anand said.

Both vaccines take two doses to be effective, which means up to three million Canadians could be inoculated by the end of March with the country receiving six million doses.

Health Canada has yet to authorize any COVID-19 vaccine for use but the expectation is that the Pfizer product will be approved within the coming days. The drugmaker submitted their final documents for review on Friday. Along with Moderna, vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are also being reviewed and considered.

The logistics of transporting and delivering the Pfizer vaccine will be tricky with the doses needing to be stored at freezing cold temperatures. On Monday, the military, health workers, and government officials participated in a staged practice run of the vaccine delivery.

Trudeau urged Canadians not to become complacent with the promising news saying that vaccines can’t help you if you catch the virus now.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is recommending that provinces and territories give their first doses to residents and staff of long-term care homes and adults 80 years of age or older.

With files from the Canadian Press.