Ottawa secures more vaccine doses

Federal government confident it can provide shots to everyone who wants them by September

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has secured an extra 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the virus that causes COVID-19, saying a faster rollout is the key to returning to some version of normality.

He says that means Canada will receive 80 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines this year, and that he remains confident the federal government will meet its goal of providing shots to everyone who wants them by September.

Trudeau also announced the Canada-U.S. land border will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least Feb. 21 — another 30-day extension to the restrictions in place since mid-March.

Quebec warned Monday that its hospitals are so stretched doctors might soon be forced to decide who gets a ventilator and who doesn’t. Quebec hospitals have 1,497 COVID-19 patients, including 21 in intensive care. Quebec implemented an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew last weekend, but reopened elementary schools for students on Monday. Ontario is opting for a full stay-at-home order, rather than a curfew, limiting hours for retailers doing curbside pickup, and limiting outdoor gatherings to a maximum of five people, instead of 10.

Ontario schools are closed until at least Jan. 25, with schools in the hardest hit areas including much of the Greater Toronto Area, and those in Windsor, Ont., to remain closed until mid-February.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick is reporting two more deaths linked to COVID-19 and 17 new infections. Health officials said today the deaths involve one person in their 70s and one in their 80s who were residents of a retirement facility in Saint John.

In Saskatchewan, the Opposition says current public-health measures are failing to contain the province’s spread of COVID-19. NDP Leader Ryan Meili is calling on Saskatchewan Party Premier Scott Moe to release more modelling data that shows where the province is headed in the pandemic.

As of Monday, nearly 200 people were in hospital because of

COVID-19 and 412 new infections were reported. Saskatchewan is tied with Alberta for having the highest rate of active cases per capita in Canada.

As of 4 a.m. Tuesday, almost 360,000 doses of vaccines had been administered in Canada, about two-thirds of the doses that have been shipped to Canada to date.

Canada has approved two different vaccines to date, with two more under review. It is expected that 20 million Canadians will get their first dose of vaccine by the summer, and the rest by the end of September. Both approved vaccines require two doses per person.