Moderna will deliver 1.3 million doses in March: Trudeau
Canada trails much of the Western world in the number of doses deployed to date
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed today that Moderna will meet its contractual obligation to deliver 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of March.
Speaking in question period, Trudeau said that the Massachusetts-based firm will send 460,000 doses during the week of March 8 and 840,000 doses starting on March 22 — 1.3 million doses.
That's in addition to the 518,000 Moderna shots that have been administered already and the 168,000 doses that are set to arrive this week, for a total of roughly 2 million in the first quarter of this year.
In announcing the new Moderna numbers, Trudeau said Canada will receive "even more than promised in the first quarter." But the government has always maintained that 2 million shots will arrive in the January through March period.
Canada's other current supplier of vaccines, Pfizer, has confirmed already it is on target to ship 4 million shots by the end of March. All told, there will be enough shots on hand to fully vaccinate 3 million people with a two-dose regime.
After weeks of delays and smaller deliveries, Pfizer is now shipping hundreds of thousands of doses each week.
Trudeau also confirmed Wednesday that Pfizer will send 750,000 doses a week for the first two weeks of April, significantly more than the 444,600 that have been arriving each week this month.
Pfizer is then expected to deliver 10.8 million shots between April and June as the manufacturing supply chain stabilizes after a shaky start to the year.
Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand has said 23 million vaccine doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna products — enough to fully vaccinate 11.5 million people — will be delivered by the end of June.
Canada trails much of the Western world in the number of doses deployed so far.
The U.S. has vaccinated five times more people per capita than Canada, while the United Kingdom has put shots in the arms of 6.5 times more people.
The United States has administered 65 million vaccine doses, while fewer than 1.9 million doses have been delivered to the provinces and territories in this country.
Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said less than 8 per cent of the Canadian population will be vaccinated by the end of March, a number that pales in comparison to other G7 nations. He said the prime minister's vaccine procurement plan has "guaranteed a third wave of COVID-19 for Canada."
O'Toole said the country will have to vaccinate 300,000 people a day to meet the prime minister's target of vaccinating everyone who wants a shot by the end of September.
WATCH: Trudeau announces new vaccine delivery numbers
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