‘Now is the time to really accelerate’: Trudeau says impatience understandable over vaccine rollout
Posted January 5, 2021 2:34 pm.
Justin Trudeau says he shares and understands people’s impatience with the pace of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts across the country.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister said he intends to raise the issue with premiers of the provinces and territories at a meeting on Thursday to see where the federal government can help.
“Now is the time, with the New Year upon us, to really accelerate,” Trudeau said.
“That is certainly what I will be talking with the premiers about on Thursday. How the federal government can support and help to get these vaccines out even more quickly to Canadians.”
In Ontario, the Ford government was heavily criticized over the holidays after only five of a possible 17 vaccination clinics were in operation as staffing challenges forced the province to scale back operations.
Premier Ford acknowledged there have been “a few bumps in the road” in the province’s immunization campaign but assured Ontarians are “going to see a significant difference within the next few weeks.”
Canada’s chief public health officer, meanwhile, said she has asked the national vaccine advisory panel to investigate if there is merit to delaying second doses of COVID-19 vaccines in a bid to get more people vaccinated faster with first doses.
RELATED: LTC residents, health-care staff in GTA hotspots to receive COVID-19 vaccine by Jan. 21
Theresa Tam said the National Advisory Committee on Immunization is being asked to provide analysis on what is known about the dosing regimens.
“This is a topic of, of course, active discussion,” Tam said. “We’re also going back to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization to ask for some of their advice looking at what we do, or do not know.”
The request comes after the United Kingdom said it will delay the second doses of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca for up to 12 weeks.
Pfizer’s product is supposed to be given in two doses 21 days apart, and Moderna’s and AstraZeneca’s in two doses 28 days apart.
Tam also touched on the new variant, saying we have to stay the course and follow public health measures to fight COVID-19.
Right now, the country’s case count stands at well over 611,000.
“As our access to safe and effective vaccines expands, let’s resolve to continue supporting each other,” she said.
“2020 was an unbelievably difficult year. Where Canadians have made remarkable achievements all around the way.”
Tam said the country is actively monitoring the emergence of the new variant being reported out of the UK. To date, there have been a total of nine cases across Canada of the strain discovered in the UK.
On Monday, Ontario health officials announced three additional cases of the new COVID-19 variant, including the first reported in Toronto.
With files from The Canadian Press
