Canada Fed Gov foresees challenges in vaccinating 3 m. Canadians in early 2021

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Ottawa, Nov 26 (Canadian-Media): In spite of the reassurance from the Federal officials on Nov 26 that Ottawa has a plan to procure and distribute millions of COVID-19 vaccines in early 2021, top civil servants still don't know how and when Canadians will be vaccinated due to a number of uncertainties, media reports said.

Covid19 Vaccine. Image credit: Twitter handle

Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada's deputy chief public health officer, said the federal government will leverage the Canadian Armed Forces and an existing influenza vaccine distribution network to help with deployment but the limited supply of  vaccine supply would be targeted to "high priority groups" only — seniors in long-term care homes, people at risk of severe illness and death, first responders and health care workers and some Indigenous communities, among others.

A larger rollout will follow once supply chains stabilize and regulators approve more vaccine candidates for use in Canada.

He cautioned, however, that it's an "optimistic projection" and the details are far from certain right now.

Needles and syringes needed for vaccinations, which will be shared with the provinces and territories, Njoo said, have been stockpiled by the federally run National Emergency Strategic Stockpile (NESS), with storage sites across the country.

A cold storage has also been purchased by the federal government for the promising Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, should they be approved for use here in Canada. 

There's been a much of preparation behind the scenes and the government will provide more information about logistics, distribution and allocation at a later date.

Purchasing agreements with five different pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Medicago, Pfizer and Moderna Canada has so far finalized, while agreements with Johnson & Johnson and Novavax are being finalized now.

Final decision on the Pfizer product, has reported a 95 percent effectiveness rate,  by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to be made on Dec. 10 and around the same time. Health Canada is expecting to give approval for that product.