Canada reported more than 435,000 cases of COVID-19 in 2020. More than 12,980 Canadians lost their battle with this deadly strain of the coronavirus. The good news is more than 350,000 Canadians beat the virus and are on the road to recovery. According to Canada’s health department, more than 72,000 Canadians are still battling the virus.
Most of those cases are what healthcare workers call mild cases.
Canada Authorizes Use Of The Pfizer – BioNTech Vaccines
There are only 530 serious cases of COVID-19 in Canada as of the beginning of December. But health officials think the virus may infect more people due to the number of cases in the United States and other parts of the world.
The province of Quebec has the most reported cases. Quebec reported more than 156,000 cases of COVID-19. Ontario is not far behind, with more than 132,000 reported cases. And British Columbia reported more than 39,000 cases.
Canada beat the U.S. Food and Drug Administration vaccine approval process. Canada is the third country to inoculate people in order to get the pandemic under control. The U.K started vaccinating people the second week of December.
China is in the process of inoculating its citizens. And Europe’s top regulator approved vaccination shots for the elderly and for people who have compromised immune systems due to other illnesses. U.S. health officials are days away from inoculating healthcare workers and the elderly with pre-existing health conditions.
Canada Will Roll Out The Vaccine The Third Week Of December
Rolling out the vaccine in Canada is a challenging mission. Canada has more land than people, so there’s a lot of territory to cover to vaccinate the entire population, according to Canada’s inoculation experts. The good news is Canada’s inoculation plan is more diverse than the U.S. plan and vaccine distribution plans in other large economies.
According to Supriya Sharma, Canada’s senior health advisor, rolling out the vaccine so quickly doesn’t mean Canada is in a race to beat the virus. Canada’s health department did expedite the vaccine review process, but Safety, quality, and efficacy were always the country’s top priorities. Sharma also said the health department did not make any compromises in order to hasten the approval process.
Pfizer-Canada Plans To Supply up To 76 Million Doses
Canada agreed to buy 20 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer. Canada also has an option to buy 56 million more doses. The first 249,000 doses will ship the third week of December, according to a Pfizer spokesperson.
Pfizer already produced 50 million doses of the vaccine. And the company plans to manufacture 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021. Europe will get half of the 50 million doses. And Pfizer U.S. will ramp up its Michigan production facility to meet the U.S. demand, according to a Pfizer spokesperson.
North American and Europe will get most of Pfizer’s vaccine production, according to Ugur Sahin, the CEO of BioNTech. But Sahin also told the Wall Street Journal his company plans to deliver the vaccine to any country that wants it.
