Ontario to receive ‘very small number’ of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by next week

By Lucas Casaletto

Following Health Canada’s approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, a spokesperson for Ontario’s minister of health says the province is expected to secure a “very small number” of them by Monday, Dec. 14.

Christine Elliott’s office confirmed the news on Wednesday, saying details on the province-wide rollout is expected to be released “in short order.”

“The COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force continues to meet regularly and provide advice to the government on the deployment of the initial delivery of Pfizer vaccines, which we expect will only include a small number of doses,” a spokesperson said in a statement obtained by 680 NEWS.

“…As has been reported publicly, the federal government will be distributing the vaccines on a per-capita basis. Based on our population, we can expect that Ontario would receive approximately 40 percent of the volume.”

“As General [Rick] Hillier has said, we expect to receive a very small number of Pfizer vaccines from the federal government the week of December 14,” Elliott added.

This comes after Health Canada supported Pfizer’s vaccine for use and distribution, with Canada becoming the third country in the world to do so.

Prime minister Justin Trudeau has said the first shipments will arrive sometime next week and up to 249,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will hit Canadian soil by the end of December.

On Monday, the Ford government unveiled phase one of its COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan, revealing who will receive the first doses – a group that includes frontline workers, essential caregivers, and residents and staff across the province’s many long-term care homes.

At the time, Doug Ford cautioned that the province was “still very far, and I’ve got to repeat that, very far, from having the millions of vaccines we need for mass immunization.”


RELATED: Elliott confident province will have COVID-19 vaccine by 2021, vulnerable population ‘top priority’


While it’s still unclear just how many doses Ontario will receive, Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu has said that those decisions will ultimately be made by the provinces and territories, with some input from Ottawa.

“We encourage the federal government to continue to share additional details on the volume and timing for when Ontario will receive its allocations in the coming weeks,” a spokesperson said, per the statement.

A new poll published on Wednesday shows that Ontarians are well-informed when it comes to vaccines but nearly half would not be willing to get inoculated right away, with roughly 55 percent of pollers saying they would get a shot if the vaccine was available immediately.

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