Pfizer increases spring vaccine schedule, adds five million doses to June shipments
Posted March 30, 2021 11:36 am.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadians just need to hold on “a little longer” as he promises even more COVID-19 vaccine doses will arrive this spring.
Pfizer is going to send five million more doses to Canada in June than it previously planned, and AstraZeneca will ship 4.4 million by the end of that month.
NEW: The Prime Minister says Pfizer is moving up deliveries of 5-million doses of its vaccine from the summer to June. That means in the month of June we are expecting more than 9-million doses from one drug maker alone. #cdnpoli
— Cormac Mac Sweeney (@cmaconthehill) March 30, 2021
Procurement Minister Anita Anand also confirmed Tuesday that the first deliveries of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will arrive in Canada at the end of April, though she can’t say yet how many of the 10 million doses that Canada has purchased will be in the initial shipment.
Even without J&J, and barring any unexpected interruptions in production or export of vaccines, Canada is in line to get more than 44 million doses before Canada Day.
WATCH: Pfizer commits a million vaccine doses a week to Canada into May
That should mean all adults over 18 will be offered a vaccine faster, and that the wait for a second dose may not be as long as the current four months.
Canada needs about 31 million doses to offer at least one shot to every adult.
