Some important vaccine updates — Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin says the 590,000 Moderna doses that were delayed last week (slow quality assurance process) are leaving Europe today, and will land in Canada tomorrow morning. Provinces will have them by Saturday, the general says.
The AstraZeneca shots from the U.S. (the 1.5 million that arrived Tues.) have now received the necessary Health Canada authorizations. Deliveries to the provinces have started and will finish Sat. (This is likely why Ont. has announced an expansion of AZ in pharmacies that day.)
By the end of this week, the feds will have distributed about 9.5 million COVID-19 shots in total, Fortin says. "We have come a long way since our first deliveries to provinces and territories on December 14."
Fortin says Canada will get an allotment of 300,000 AstraZeneca doses from COVAX "in the coming days." Those shots will be sent to the provinces next week.
Other upcoming deliveries: Fortin says Canada will receive one million shots a week from Pfizer in April and May (the PM said on Tuesday that that number would rise to 2 million a week in June.)
855,000 Moderna doses are arriving next week (week of April 5), with those doses then being delivered to the provinces and territories the week after (week of April 12). 1.2 million doses will arrive with the subsequent Moderna shipment.
Despite "bumps," Fortin says there have been successes: the national operations centre is fully functional and "vaccine administrators have taken extraordinary care creating conditions where wastage has been minimal and far below initial estimates."
Some graphics on vaccine progress — 14.6% of adult Canadians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine so far (much higher in the territories; Que. is at 17.5%). Deliveries have ramped up significantly over the last month. 7.4 million shots delivered as of yesterday. 
Fortin says Canada doesn't have the "exact timetable" with respect to Johnson & Johnson shipments, adding he expects them to come sometime in April. The issue at the Maryland partner plant is not expected to have an impact.
Joelle Paquette, with Public Services and Procurement, says the Johnson & Johnson situation "is not impacting delivery to Canada." (Although, she doesn't seem to know much about how/when those shots will be coming.)
"The AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective," Njoo says, with millions of doses administered there have been few issues.
He says Health Canada is "plugged in" to discussions about the blood clots and our reporting system is robust. He wouldn't hesitate to take the shot, says.
He says Health Canada is "plugged in" to discussions about the blood clots and our reporting system is robust. He wouldn't hesitate to take the shot, says.
423,000 of the 500,000 AZ doses delivered have been administered to date, Fortin says.
"I have no indications that provinces have had issues with wastage or don't have a desire to administer any of those doses in time before the expiration date of April 2," Fortin says.
"I have no indications that provinces have had issues with wastage or don't have a desire to administer any of those doses in time before the expiration date of April 2," Fortin says.
(300,000 of the 500,000 AZ doses delivered by the Serum Institute are set to expire tomorrow. Maj.-Gen. Fortin says he thinks those that were close to expiration were used first, so little wastage.)
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