Moderna will send fewer COVID-19 vaccine doses while Pfizer issues persist

Questions about delays in the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine in Canada remain outstanding, with the decrease in doses of the modern and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine during February.

Maj.Gen. Dany Fortin, vice president of logistics and operations at the Public Health Agency of Canada and head of the country’s vaccine distribution, confirmed that 180,000 doses of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine arrive in Canada on Thursday morning. Initially, Canada would have received 230,000 Moderna COVID-19 doses.

The week of February 22 will see the next shipment from the company, but although 249,000 doses were originally expected that week, the federal government expects less than the amount, while the exact amount has yet to be confirmed with the manufacturer. .

“Modern has indicated that in good faith they are trying their best to give as many doses as possible,” said Maj.-Gen. Fortin said. “They did not share the specific challenges … in their returns or in their production, but they are still committed to offering us two million at the end of March.”

More than 1.1 million vaccine doses have been delivered across Canada, with 79,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine delivered this week. Maj.Gen. Fortin said there are expected to be a total of 70,000 doses next week.

He added that shipping is expected to increase to 335,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 395,000 doses in the last week of February in the week of February 15.

Dr. Howard Njoo, deputy head of public health in Canada, spoke about the possibility of getting six doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from each accident, instead of five.

Dr. Njoo explained that the product monograph for each dose was approved for five doses, but Pfizer made a submission to have an approved change in Canada.

“They need to provide the data and information so that Health Canada is comfortable that the product monograph can or should be changed, because you can draw six doses per bite in a consistent and regular manner,” said Dr. Njoo said.

On Wednesday, Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney shared a graphic showing Canada being ranked 29th in the global vaccine administration.

“Canada is not first in line for COVID-19 vaccines, as we were promised,” reads the caption from Kenney.

‘Our vaccines are up and are now 29th in the world for vaccinations per 100,000. We need more vaccinations and we need them now. ”

Check out our COVID-19 topic page in Canada for the latest news, tips, health updates, cases and more.

Source