OTTAWA —
Canada will be experiencing a “temporary” delay in Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shipments due to the pharmaceutical giant’s expansion plans at its European manufacturing facility, Procurement Minister Anita Anand announced Friday.
While she did not specify how severe of a setback this will be to Canada’s short-term COVID-19 vaccination schedule, she said all nations who are receiving vaccines from this Pfizer facility will be receiving fewer doses.
Anand said that shipments will continue in the coming weeks, but the amount of doses in them will be lessened.
“It is a temporary reduction, it’s not a stoppage… We will make up those doses,” Anand said.
Addressing the setback during his Rideau Cottage address on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that shipments have largely been ahead of schedule so far, but that “with an undertaking this historic, it’s only to be expected that there will be a few bumps along the way.”
Pfizer is speaking with Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, who is leading Canada’s logistical rollout, later Friday about the readjusted number of doses in the weeks coming, and Anand pledged to have more information to share in the coming hours.
Norway, which is also receiving Pfizer doses from its Europe facilities has announced that “starting next week and for some time ahead” their deliveries will be reduced by approximately 18 per cent.
“The reduction is due to a reorganisation at Pfizer in connection with an upgrade of production capacity… It is not yet clear how long it will take before Pfizer is up to maximum production capacity again,” said the statement published by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
Canada was planning on receiving between 124,800 and 366,600 Pfizer doses every week between now and the end of February, as part of the plan to have six million doses total from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of March when Phase 1 ends.
“Pfizer believes that by the end of March we will be able to catch up, such that we will be on track with the total committed doses for Q1. This is unfortunate, however such delays and issues are to be expected when global supply chains are stretched well beyond their limits,” Anand said.
She said the Canadian government is seeking to ensure that all countries who will be impacted, will be “equitably treated” in terms of delivery reductions.
By end of the day Friday, the federal government will have distributed a total of 929,000 doses of the two approved COVID-19 vaccines, around 84 per cent of which have been administered.
The plan is to receive “more than” one million doses of approved vaccines every week, on average, starting in April with Phase 2.
Trudeau said that while this issue is out of Canada’s hands, the country “must still get ready for the ramp-up,” in Phase 2.
The ongoing initial vaccination stage has seen Canada pushing to properly allocate and prioritize key groups like residents and staff in long-term care homes as well as front-line health-care workers.
In this first stage of the vaccine campaign, Canada has seen both doses sitting in freezers as well as provinces saying they are running short, while those on the front line have sought to sort out who should and shouldn’t be receiving shots at this time.
“It was with precisely these types of issues in mind that Canada pursued the aggressive procurement strategy that we did,” Anand said. “This approach of ensuring diversity and volume months ago is what now gives us flexibility and margins to remain on track in difficult times.”
The minister said that she remains in constant contact with Pfizer, who has assured her the delay will be “short.”
She said Canada remains on track to vaccinate everyone who wants to be, by the end of September.
