OTTAWA–Hundreds of thousands of doses of a new COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer/BioNTech will arrive in Canada before the end of December, possibly allowing an national vaccination campaign to begin earlier than announced.
The vaccine still requires Health Canada’s approval, which has not yet been granted.
On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, along with Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the vaccine commander he named last week, and his procurement minister Anita Anand, told reporters the first shipment is expected imminently.
“Vaccines are coming,” said Trudeau, saying an expected shipment of 249,000 doses of an initial 4 million vaccine doses from Pfizer would begin to arrive next week.
Previously he had said it would only begin arriving in the first three months of 2021, in staggered fashion.
“The regulatory process is ongoing and experts are working around the clock,” Trudeau said, adding the vaccine will only be released if it is safe.
“We are facing the largest immunization in our country’s history.”
The news was announced on a day when Fortin was overseeing a national “dry run” or mock exercise involving provinces receiving virtual shipments of Pfizer’s “ultracold” vaccine — a frozen product that has sensitive shipping, storage and delivery requirements in containers ensuring a stable -80C environment.
Source:- Toronto Star
