Canada to receive 3.7 million more COVID-19 doses this week

OTTAWA — The federal government is expecting to receive 3.7 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines this week, bringing the total of COVID-19 vaccine deliveries above 53.7 million doses.

The new deliveries will include about 900,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 2.8 million doses of Moderna vaccine.

Those shipments will push Canada’s total vaccine deliveries above 53.7 million doses, enough to administer two shots to more than 75 per cent of eligible residents.

With 18 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines expected to arrive in Canada in July, the country will have enough doses to fully vaccinate all 33.2 million Canadians over the age of 12.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined the ranks of the fully vaccinated on Friday. He received  a shot of the Moderna vaccine at an Ottawa clinic. His wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, got her second dose on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters after getting his shot, Trudeau said he feels “safer and quite optimistic about the summer.”

He said close to 80 per cent of eligible Canadians have already received their first shot of COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 35 per cent have received two doses. 

Trudeau said more than 50 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to Canada and the government expects to receive a total of 68 million by the end of the month. 

“We are well on the way to a good summer and an even better fall,” he said. 

“That said, we are not out of the woods yet.” 

Trudeau said that Yukon is facing its biggest spike in COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic despite 86 per cent of eligible people having already received their first dose  and over 76 per cent with their second.

Yukon’s chief public health officer Dr. Brendan Hanley last week said the territory has the highest active case rate in the country and has asked the federal government for help in controlling the outbreak.

On Friday, there was a total of 146 active cases. Three people have died since the outbreak began. Two others died earlier in the pandemic.

This report was first published by The Canadian Press on July 5, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press