TRUDEAU, ANAND: PFIZER ''TEMPORARILY REDUCING'' VACCINE DELIVERIES TO CANADA
Jan 15, 2021
By Bob Komsic
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Vaccine maker Pfizer is temporarily reducing shipments to all countries receiving shipments from its European facility, including Canada.
The pharmaceutical giant says it’s pausing some production lines at its plant in Belgium in order to expand long-term manufacturing capacity.
Procurement Minister Anita Anand stresses it’s a ”temporary reduction” not a ”stoppage”.
”Pfizer believes that by the end of March it will be able to catch up, such that we will be on track for the total committed doses for Q1,” referring to the first quarter of 2021.
”It’s not a loss, and we will make up those doses,” Anand says, adding deliveries will be disrupted for ”two or three weeks.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the development does not impact the goal to have enough vaccines for every Canadian who wants one by September.
Given unprecedented world demand, Trudeau says the government always anticipated there would be ”some bumps along the way.”
He points out Canada is not totally dependent on Pfizer.
Moderna’s vaccine has also been approved for use here, while promising candidates from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are currently under review by Health Canada.