Canada Vaccine Supply Surges: 75% Two Dose Target In Sight

Canada Vaccine Supply Surges: 75% Two Dose Target In Sight

June 28, 2021 ctn_admin

Canada will have enough vaccines by the end of this week to provide double doses to 75% of Canadian adults, Canadian Press reports. And that should allow the Trudeau government to ease travel restrictions.

CP quotes Brig. Gen. Krista Brodie, the military commander managing national vaccine delivery logistics for the Public Health Agency of Canada, as saying that says Pfizer-BioNTech is to send more than 2.4 million doses this week and Moderna about 1.4 million, for a total of 3.8 million new doses.

Those arrivals will push Canada’s total vaccine deliveries above 50 million doses so far, enough to administer two shots to 75% of eligible residents. Canada is slated to receive a whopping 18 million doses in July, which CP said is enough to fully vaccinate all 33.2 million Canadians over the age of 12.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the Canadian-US border can open once 75% of eligible Canadians have had two vaccines; something that appears to be getting closer to reality.

“The payoff for Canadians, and for all of us, is when we reach that threshold, we’ll be able to accommodate significant easing of the border [restrictions],” Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told the CBC’s David Cochrane recently.

Canada also could begin welcoming fully vaccinated tourists when the country reaches the 75% vaccination mark.

“I think that will mean an easing of restrictions on fully vaccinated travelers and the lifting of the current prohibition on non-essential travel,” Blair said.

Trudeau last week said an easing of travel restrictions at the US-Canada border is “weeks, not months” away.

According to Vaccine Tracker Canada’s June 28 stats, 76.95% of Canadians have had a single dose, while 30.52% of Canadians 12 and older have received two doses.

Starting July 5, fully vaccinated travellers who are permitted to enter Canada will no longer have to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival and won’t have to stay at a government-approved hotel. They will have to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival, but won’t need a test on their eighth day back home.

Tourism industry officials say they’re anxious to get Americans and other visitors into Canada this summer to save their most important season of the year.