CategoryCanada

Canada to donate almost 18 million surplus AstraZeneca doses to low- and middle-income countries

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Canada is donating an additional 17.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to help inoculate people in low- and middle-income countries, federal ministers announced Monday.

International Development Minister Karina Gould and Procurement Minister Anita Anand said the doses were a part of the federal government’s advance purchase agreement with the company and would be distributed through COVAX.

COVAX is a global vaccine-sharing initiative jointly co-ordinated by the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance.

The program pools funds from wealthier countries to buy vaccines for those countries and ensure that low- and middle-income countries have access to vaccines as well. Canada has already committed $440 million to COVAX.

“As we are now able to donate excess vaccines, the contribution to COVAX of close to 18 million doses will help to meet international needs and end this pandemic,” Anand said in a statement.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covax-donations-astrazeneca-surplus-1.6099072

Germany takes US, Canada off travel risk list, most others from July

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Germany no longer classifies some regions, including the United States, Canada and Austria, as areas of a high coronavirus risk, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said on Friday.

The RKI listed 19 countries and regions that are “no longer considered risk areas” thanks to their low coronavirus infection rates.

Countries that have been removed from the travel risk list include Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Cyprus, Kosovo, Lebanon, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine and the US.

Some regions in Portugal, Norway, Croatia, Greece and Switzerland are also no longer considered risk regions by Germany.

Travelers entering Germany by plane must provide a negative test result, proof of vaccination or proof of recovery before their departure, whether or not they spent time in a risk area, the RKI said.

The decision takes effect on June 13.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-takes-us-canada-off-travel-risk-list-most-others-from-july/a-57851397

‘Very encouraging’: Only 0.15% of Canadians caught COVID-19 after getting vaccinated

New national data shows just how well COVID-19 vaccines are working to bring down the severity of the third wave in Canada.

Based on data provided by the provinces and territories up to May 25, only 0.15 per cent of vaccinated Canadians became infected by the virus 14 days or more after their first dose.

“Compared to unvaccinated cases in these jurisdictions, these people were more likely to report no symptoms and less likely to experience severe illness requiring hospitalization,” Theresa Tam, Canada’s top doctor, said at a federal COVID-19 briefing on Friday.

“This aligns well with vaccine effectiveness studies showing strong protection against severe illness.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/7902177/covid-canada-infection-vaccination-effectiveness/

More than half of Canada’s population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

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More than half of Canada’s population has been vaccinated with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to CTVNews.ca’s vaccine tracker.

On Saturday morning, the percentage of the Canadian population that has received at least one dose of vaccine tipped over 50 per cent after New Brunswick reported that it had administered another 11,383 first doses.

The percentage of those fully vaccinated – meaning they’ve received two doses – is at just over 4 per cent.

In total, the country has administered more than 20 million vaccine doses.

Dr. Michael Silverman, chief of infectious diseases at the London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care London in London, Ont., said Canada reaching 50 per cent for first doses was an important milestone.

“It’s exciting,” he told CTV News Channel on Saturday. “Everybody can do a little dance at home, but we’re not wanting everybody to go out and dance together just yet. It means we’re really on our way to getting back to normal.”

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/more-than-half-of-canada-s-population-has-received-at-least-one-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine-1.5439484

Canada sets new single-day vaccination record logging more than 400,000 doses

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Canada reached a new milestone in its COVID-19 vaccination effort Friday, logging more than 400,000 doses in a single day.

Canada administered a total 400,489 doses of combined first and second doses Friday, according to CTV News.ca’s vaccine tracker.

Numbers released by the federal government showed that 375,636 of the 400,489 doses were first doses, while the remaining 24,853 were second doses.

More than 14 million people have now had at least one dose, which equates to about 37 per cent of all Canadians. In total 14,104,164 Canadians had received at least one dose of a vaccine as of Friday afternoon.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/canada-sets-new-single-day-vaccination-record-logging-more-than-400-000-doses-1.5419495

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to Canada increasing to 2 million doses each week

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a press conference on Friday that Pfizer will be increasing its deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to two million doses a week, from the U.S., starting next week.

“This will mark another major ramp-up. We will continue to work with provinces and territories to get these doses to Canadians as quickly as possible,” Trudeau said.

Throughout the pandemic, Pfizer has been sending Canada doses from Belgium, when American plants were off-limits due to export controls put in place by the Trump administration.

But Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Pfizer will now start producing Canada’s doses from Michigan.

It’s the first time the U.S. has allowed that company’s vaccine exported north.

The production shift assures Canada’s supplies will not be hit by European export controls.

The change will not impact Canada’s planned deliveries in any way which means the country is still on track to receive 2 million doses each week in the month of May and 2.4 million a week in June.

https://www.680news.com/2021/04/30/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-deliveries-increasing-to-2-million-for-canada-us-doses-news/

Moderna slashing vaccine deliveries to Canada, but Pfizer steps up with 8 million more doses

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Pfizer will send four million more vaccine doses in May, two million more in June, Trudeau says

Moderna will send far fewer COVID-19 shots to Canada this month than originally planned as the company grapples with production issues at its facilities in Europe.

But its main competitor, Pfizer — which also produces a highly effective mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus — has said it will send millions more doses to Canada in May, June and beyond, a commitment that will more than cover the shortfall from Moderna.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that while the delay in Moderna’s shipments is disappointing, Canada has now signed an agreement with Pfizer for eight million more vaccine doses on top of what has already been promised.

Canada will receive four million more Pfizer doses in May, another two million in June and two million more in July, Trudeau said.

That means Canada’s immunization campaign will have access to two million doses per week of the Pfizer product in May and 2.5 million shots per week in the month of June — vaccine stocks that are badly needed as the country grapples with a punishing third wave of cases.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/moderna-delay-1.5990166

Pfizer to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to Canada

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Pfizer Inc has agreed to accelerate the delivery of its COVID-19 vaccine to Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday.

Canada has lagged the United States and Britain in getting its nearly 38 million citizens vaccinated, but the federal government says the ramp-up of deliveries and inoculations is underway.

Pfizer/BioNTech SE will deliver 5 million more doses in June than previously expected, Trudeau said. That means 1 million Pfizer doses will be received each week through the end of May, rising to 2 million per week through the end of June.

Combined with deliveries from AstraZeneca Plc and Moderna Inc, Canada now expects a total of 44 million doses by the end of June.

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2BM2DZ

8M vaccine doses to land in Canada by end of March after Pfizer moves up delivery

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday that Pfizer-BioNTech has agreed to move up a portion of its vaccines scheduled for the summer, with an additional 1.5 million doses arriving in March.

This means Canada will have access to a total of eight million vaccine doses from Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca by the end of the first quarter, up from an original commitment of six million doses.

“With the newly confirmed delivery of an additional 1.5 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses arriving this month, as well as the 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine that arrived this week from the Serum Institute, Canada is set to receive eight million doses of vaccines by the end of this quarter,” said Procurement Minister Anita Anand, at a press conference on Friday.

Pfizer is also accelerating shipments for April and May by one million additional doses each month. By the end of the second quarter, Canada is on track to receive 36.5 million doses and by the end of the third quarter, 117.9 million, which will include the now-approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/8m-vaccine-doses-to-land-in-canada-by-end-of-march-after-pfizer-moves-up-delivery-1.5335386

An earlier end date for vaccination campaign is ‘possible’, Trudeau says

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that Canada’s vaccination campaign could wrap up before September if the country secures the necessary shots and if there’s a change in dosing timelines.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced Tuesday his administration will have enough supply on hand by the end of May to vaccinate every American — two months earlier than planned.

Asked about that ambitious timeline, Trudeau said his government is confident that all Canadians who want a shot will be vaccinated by the end of September, but an earlier end date is “possible” if all goes well with deliveries and if other promising vaccine candidates are approved by the regulators at Health Canada.

“As I’ve been saying since this past November, we expect all Canadians to be vaccinated by the end of September, for those who want it,” he said. “It’s possible that those timelines can be moved forward.”

He said Ottawa is focused on “bringing in more doses for more Canadians to get through this as rapidly as possible.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-possible-vaccination-campaign-ends-sooner-1.5934994