Sharjah24 – Reuters: Canada will start receiving its first doses of Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine before the end of December, sooner than expected, with millions more to follow in early 2021, officials said on Monday.
The news could help the minority Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fend off attacks from opposition parties that have accused Ottawa of acting too slowly to tackle a worsening coronavirus second wave.
Officials had initially expected to get a total of six million doses of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna Inc by end-March. That would be enough to inoculate three million people as both vaccines require two shots about a month apart.
But Trudeau said up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine Pfizer is producing with German partner BionNTech SE would arrive this month, and a further three million doses should be delivered at the start of 2021.
Saying vaccinations could start next week, Trudeau dismissed the suggestion his government had pressed for early delivery to relieve political attacks by the opposition.
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