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.
