OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada is readying a plan to distribute a first round of COVID-19 vaccines to the most vulnerable groups as soon as regulatory approvals are issued, but managing the nationwide rollout will be one of the most complex logistical undertakings in the country’s history, officials said on Thursday.
“In a country as geographically large and diverse as ours, we are facing some logistical complexities,” said Canada’s deputy chief public health officer Howard Njoo.
WHEN IS REGULATORY APPROVAL EXPECTED?
Canadian health authorities could approve Pfizer Inc’s coronavirus vaccine within the next week, allowing distribution to start in early 2021, medical officials indicated on Thursday.
Canada also has agreements to purchase the potential vaccines of Moderna Inc, Novavax Inc, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi SA with GlaxoSmithKline Plc, AstraZeneca Plc, and Medicago. If all were to receive regulatory approval, Canada could buy enough doses to vaccinate the country more than five times over.
WHEN WILL VACCINES START ARRIVING?
Canada expects the first 6 million doses from Pfizer and Moderna Inc to arrive in the first quarter of 2021, enough for three million of Canada’s 38 million population.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said on Wednesday that Ottawa had assured his provincial government that shipments will start arriving by Jan. 4.
WHO WILL RECEIVE THE FIRST DOSES?
Officials said priority groups, including healthcare workers and the elderly, will receive vaccines first and promised further guidelines on who will be first in line in the coming days.
HOW WILL VACCINES BE TRANSPORTED AND TO WHERE?
Provincial orders for vaccines will be coordinated through a national operations center.
Pfizer’s ultra-low temperature vaccine will be transported by the manufacturer directly to the point of inoculation, Njoo said.
Frozen vaccines, like Moderna’s, will be transported by a federally contracted logistics service providers from where they are manufactured to set points of delivery in each province and territory.
Canada is now running distribution drills to ensure that critical capability gaps are filled, risks are mitigated, and that contingencies are put in place.
WHO WILL BE IN CHARGE OF ADMINISTERING VACCINES TO PEOPLE?
Health authorities in the provinces and territories are responsible for determining how the vaccine will be deployed and on administering the vaccine to their populations. Inoculation will be free.
Alberta has announced a task force to distribute vaccine shipments with the goal of immunizing 435,000 people, or 10% of the province’s population, in the first three months of next year.
Ontario has also set up a task force headed by Canada’s former Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier.
(Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa, editing by Steve Scherer and Diane Craft)
