By Elishya Perera
MONTRÉAL, Québec (CWBN)_The first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced yesterday (Dec 13).
“The first batch of doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Canada,” he said on Twitter, along with a picture of a cargo plane apparently used to transport the vaccines.
It is reported that the vaccines left Belgium on Friday (Dec11), and travelled to Germany and the United States, before being delivered to differed parts of Canada.
Canada is expected to receive 249,000 doses of the vaccine before the end of the year, which would be sufficient to inoculate 124,500 Canadians, since it is administered in two doses each.
Following the authorisation in the United Kingdom and Bahrain, Canada became the third country to approve the vaccine made by US drug maker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, last week.
“We have a reason to feel optimistic and excited about returning to the lives we had pre-COVID,” Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, said on Wednesday. He added that officials hope to vaccinate 3 million Canadians between January and March with supply ramping up the rest of 2021.
As part of the terms of approval, Health Canada requires the manufacturers to continue to provide information on the vaccine, following approval, and the regulator will also be monitoring people who are inoculated for side effects or adverse reactions.
Meanwhile, Canada’s regulator said on Saturday that anyone with vaccine allergies should refrain from taking the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
“If you have an allergy to a vaccine or this vaccine or any components of the vaccine, you should not get it,” Supriya Sharma, senior medical adviser at Health Canada, said. “But if you have other allergies, you can go ahead and get vaccinated.”
Canada has also signed advance purchase agreements with six other vaccine makers and is currently reviewing three other vaccines, including the one by Moderna, which Canadian health officials say could be approved soon.
