Vaccine deliveries poised to pick up

400,000 DOSES

OTTAWA • Canada’s sluggish COVID-19 vaccination efforts are expected to get a boost starting this week as the federal government prepares for a ramp up in the delivery of shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and a promise from India to send a shipment within a month.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says it expects Pfizer-BioNTech to deliver more than 400,000 doses this week and another 475,000 following a slowdown as Pfizer expanded a production plant in Belgium.

The health agency says Canada will then receive nearly 450,000 doses per week until the beginning of April, when Pfizer and BioNTech will have fulfilled their contract to deliver 4 million shots by the end of March.

On Monday, the chief executive of India’s Serum Institute said it will ship vaccines to Canada within a month, in a sign a diplomatic row triggered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments on political protests in India was easing.

Trudeau said the monthslong protests by farmers on the outskirts of Delhi were concerning, drawing a rebuke from the Indian government, which said it was an internal matter.

Last week Trudeau spoke to Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and they discussed the two countries’ commitment to democracy.

Modi also said India would do its best to supply COVID-19 vaccines sought by Canada.

On Monday Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive of Serum Institute of India (SII) — the world’s largest vaccine maker — reaffirmed that commitment.

“As we await regulatory approvals from Canada, I assure you, @SerumInstIndia will fly out #COVISHIELD to Canada in less than a month; I’m on it!” Poonawalla tweeted, using the brand name under which Serum produces the shot developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc.

“It is encouraging to look ahead with a greater degree of certainty at the number of vaccines we will receive,” said Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the military commander overseeing Canada’s vaccine distribution. “Based on our planning with the manufacturer, Canada is expected to receive more than three million doses between now and end of March. This shows us that the wheel is definitely turning on the vaccine rollout and Pfizer-BioNTech’s commitment to deliver its four million doses by end of (March).”

The ramp-up in new deliveries may ease some of the pressure on the federal Liberal government, which has been accused of mismanaging what amounts to the largest mass-vaccination effort in Canadian history.

Trudeau acknowledged the struggle with deliveries, but said things will get better in the weeks ahead, and even better in April, when Canada is expecting as many as a million doses a week.