The Canadian minister in charge of vaccines said it’s highly likely the government will be able to move up its target date for inoculating every citizen who wants a Covid-19 shot.
(Bloomberg) -- The Canadian minister in charge of vaccines said it’s “highly likely" the government will be able to move up its target date for inoculating every citizen who wants a Covid-19 shot.
The government set a September timeline based on the approval of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. vaccines in December. But with AstraZeneca Plc’s shot now greenlit too, Procurement Minister Anita Anand said Thursday in an interview that more people could get their jabs at a faster pace as the delivery of doses ramps up.
“It is highly likely that our vaccine timeline will accelerate," Anand said. “I am loathe to simply throw caution to the wind and proclaim a new date without ensuring that our delivery schedules are firm and we will receive vaccines."
Her comments come a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters he was “very optimistic" the government will be able to vaccinate more people in less time than initially planned.
Anand cautioned, however, that the decision to move up the date would be made by the Public Health Agency of Canada, which is responsible for liaising with provinces on vaccine deliveries once the shots have arrived in the country.
“Procurement is only one piece of this puzzle. The other piece of this puzzle is that when we get vaccines out to provinces and territories, they need to administer them in good time," she said.
Canada had administered 5.5 doses of vaccine per 100 people as of Wednesday, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker, putting it last among all Group of Seven nations except Japan. The U.K. and U.S. have given 32.3 and 24.3 doses per 100 of their citizens, respectively.
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