Canada to receive 4M Pfizer vaccines by end of March, up to 11M doses through June

The federal government has bought an extra four-million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Friday.

Trudeau says four-million doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine will be shipped by the end of next month as per its contract.

An additional 10.8-million doses of that vaccine is expected to be shipped from April-to-June.

“We can confirm we will be receiving the four-million doses we’ve been committed to since last November from Pfizer by the end of the month,” Trudeau said.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had assured Trudeau that India would do its best to supply Canada with vaccines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially easing shortages faced in the country in recent weeks.

Trudeau is looking at possibility of getting extra vaccines from India.

— Rob Gillies (@rgilliescanada) February 12, 2021

India, which boasts several vaccine manufacturing facilities, is fast emerging as a key supplier of shots to the world.

Canada does not yet have a vaccine manufacturing facility of its own and is reliant on foreign suppliers.

Pfizer and Moderna – currently the only two vaccines approved for use in Canada – has reduced the number of COVID-19 vaccines being delivered to Canada in February.

In late January, Trudeau said he is “very confident” Canada is going to get all the doses promised by the end of March.

The Prime Minister sent out a tweet saying he spoke to Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, who informed Trudeau that Canada will receive additional vaccine shipments “in a timely manner”.

This comes as the U.S. continues to vaccinate its population at a staggering pace.

The U.S. is on track to exceed Joe Biden’s goal of administering 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office, with more than 26 million shots delivered in his first three weeks.

Biden announced Thursday that America has secured 200-million vaccine doses promising that every American that wishes to be treated will get a vaccine by July.

The U.S. will receive 100-million doses of Moderna and 100-million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, the President confirmed.