The federal government has outlined its initial plans to administer what are being considered Canada’s “Track 1” COVID-19 vaccines—Pfizer and Moderna—in the “coming weeks and months.”
This will include a “soft launch” rehearsal of the Pfizer rollout happening next Monday.
“We'll have a dry run in every province, and they will execute, and they'll ensure that -- without the vaccine of course -- they execute the process of handling and ensuring that people are comfortable with the very unique requirements of handling an ultra-low temperature vaccine,” said Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin, who is running Canada’s logistical side of the vaccine effort, on Thursday at a press briefing in Ottawa.
Fortin said this is part of planning that’s been ongoing since the spring, to be ready for movement of vaccines from the manufacturers to Canadians.
“We're hard at it in the next couple of weeks to ensure that we are ready, and I kind of like the idea of being ready before the Christmas timeframe, so that we're certain to be ready when it comes in January,” he said.
Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo said that Canada is expecting that these two vaccine candidates—two of the four currently being evaluated by Health Canada for safety—are expected to be “the earliest through the regulatory gates.”
The initial supply will be limited to being able to vaccinate around three million people, so the government is having to be strategic about who gets vaccinated first. Initially, Canada is set to receive six million doses of these two vaccines by March 31, 2021: four million Pfizer doses and two million Moderna doses. Both of these vaccines require two doses per person, administered a few weeks apart.
“Ultimately, each provincial and territorial government is responsible for deciding how to deploy COVID-19 vaccines within their jurisdiction and immunizing Canadians, with the support of provincial and territorial health care workers,” said Dr. Njoo.