Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, centre, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau provide a federal COVID-19 update.

By Chris Brown

140M rapid tests coming in January

‘It gets better in a few months’: PM asks Canadians to keep doing their part amid fifth wave

Jan 5, 2022 | 10:06 AM

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there is no magic bullet to beat this fifth wave of the pandemic and but expressed hope for the future if Canadians hunker down.

“We have to pull together and it gets better in a few months,” he said in Ottawa today. “We’re looking at a better spring, as long as we all keep doing our part.”

Part of that includes increasing the widespread availability of rapid tests, which Trudeau said will be part of the path through COVID.

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said 140 million rapid tests will be sent to provinces and territories in January on a per capita basis.

The prime minister said he understands that people are tired and frustrated and that the holiday season was less festive than many would have liked.

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Trudeau said everyone was hoping we would be in a much better place rather than still dealing with public health restrictions, and schools delaying returns to class or going virtual again.

One thing has changed from two years ago, he said.

“You know what we need to do, you know how to keep your loved ones safe and more importantly you know how to keep our health-care systems from getting overwhelmed,” Trudeau said.

“This is about keeping you safe, keeping our health workers safe and getting back as quickly as possible the things we love.”

Trudeau asked people to get vaccinated, saying Canada has enough vaccines for everyone in the country.

“That’s how we minimize the impact of COVID on our society, on our economy, on our neighbours and on our frontline workers,” he said.

He touted the number of rapid tests already delivered to provinces and will continue to be delivered.

Trudeau said the military will be deployed when and where needed to help with vaccinations and wage and subsidies are available for those who need it.

“We’re going to hang in there, we’re going to keep getting through this, and there will be better days ahead,” said Trudeau.

Duclos said the country is better prepared to handle the Omicron variant than any previous variants thanks to vaccinations and boosters.

“We would be in a very different position right now if we did not have such a high vaccination rate and the vaccine supply we need to support further vaccination efforts throughout the new year,” Duclos said.

He said the job now is to vaccinate unvaccinated populations, deliver booster shots and vaccinate children. Duclos said that in January there will be enough child-sized doses for all kids aged five to 11.