Accessibility of first COVID-19 vaccine could be as early as end of December, Fortin says

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Canada/Canadian-Media: Availability of the first COVID-19 vaccine to distribution points could be as early as end of December, said Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin -- leader of vaccination logistics at a new national operations centre in the Public Health Agency of Canada --  on Dec 3. 

Covid 19 Vaccine. Image credit: Unsplash

Although Health Canada is expected to give a green light to the vaccine from Pfizer,  as early as this month, Fortin said the national inoculation operations centre isn't waiting for Health Canada's sign-off to begin preparations as military, partners will be ready to deploy vaccines as soon as they're approved by Health Canada.

14 distribution points nationwide, indicated by the provinces will be ready to receive the vaccine starting on Dec. 14, Fortin said and added that eventually, there will be 205 "points of issue" locations across the country where health care professionals can administer the vaccine.

The provinces and territories would specify where and when individual Canadians will be inoculated, Fortin said. .

Only three million Canadians are expected to get shots in the first three months of 2021, due to limited supply of the initial doses. Arrival of millions more doses are expected once the supply chain stabilizes.