Premier says Canadians can't be `last in line' for COVID-19 vaccine

Former NATO commander Maj.Gen. Dany Fortin will lead the nation's vaccine distribution efforts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday as he urged Canadians to “hold on tight” with winter on the way and vaccines “on the horizon.”

Fortin most recently served as chief of staff for the Canadian Joint Operations Command and is the second senior military official appointed to helm vaccine distribution efforts this week. Gen. Rick Hillier, former chief of defence staff for the Canadian Forces, was formally introduced Friday as chair of the Ontario's COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force.

“We're in some of the toughest days of this pandemic,” Trudeau said. “We're going to have to hold on tight … Vaccines are on the horizon. There's a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Trudeau said his government was “working extremely hard” with health experts on “rolling approvals” of the three top vaccine candidates.

Health experts advised that, “If all goes according to plan, we should be able to have the majority of Canadians vaccinated by next September,” which Trudeau said, “puts us in very good stead.”

“I can understand the eagerness with which people want to know, `When is this going to be over? When are we going to get the vaccines?'

“We are working extremely hard to deliver as quickly and as safely as possible. And I know people are eager to know when we're going to get to that starting line … but, at the same time, what really matters is when we get to cross the finish line.”

Trudeau said the Canadian Armed Forces would assist in the vaccine rollout with cold-storage requirements, data sharing and reaching Indigenous communities.

Flanked by Hillier and Health Minister Christine Elliot at his daily media briefing, Premier Doug Ford continued to pressure the federal government for “certainty” on vaccine procurement.

“We need to know which kinds of vaccines we'll be getting,” Ford said, with each of the potential vaccines coming with its own “unique requirements and potential challenges.”

“And we also need to know how many vaccines we'll receive each week. We need a clear line of sight into the timelines of the shipments,” Ford said, adding rollout logistics would be “impossible to plan” without that information from the federal government.

“The federal government is responsible for procurement of this vaccine,” Ford said. “But, as the province, we'll be the ones distributing this vaccine across Ontario to our front line partners to administer it.”

Ford called his government the “last and most important link to this chain and also the most complicated part of this rollout.”

Ford said he was blunt with the prime minister during a Thursday evening call with provincial counterparts.

“We need answers and we expect answers because we can't have Canadians watching as our allies start getting vaccines without having a clear answer on when we will be getting it. And, my friends, the clock is ticking.

“We can't be last in line.” Ontario reported another daily record high in new cases of COVID-19 Friday with 1,855 laboratory-confirmed cases, including 517 new cases in Peel and 494 in Toronto — both regions now under the province's most restrictive lockdown measures — with 189 new cases reported in York and 130 in Halton region. Combined, the broad Toronto region accounted for almost 75 per cent of the new cases.

Ottawa reported one new death and 55 new cases on Friday.