By Canadian Press

First shipments of COVID-19 vaccine arriving today, with more en route Monday

Dec 13, 2020 | 11:21 AM

MONTREAL — The first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine are slated to arrive in Canada later today.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says some of the 30,000 initial doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will begin to touch down for transport to 14 distribution sites across the country starting tonight, with more crossing the border via plane and truck tomorrow.

Front-line health-care workers and long-term care residents will be among the first to be inoculated, as soon as tomorrow.

Quebec City’s health agency says Gisèle Lévesque, who lives at the city’s Saint-Antoine seniors’ home, is first up for vaccination in the provincial capital.

Her nieces say Lévesque, who moved into the facility just as the pandemic broke out in March, was calm and direct about being No. 1 on the list, saying simply, ‘I was chosen, of course.’ “

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News of the vaccines’ imminent arrival comes as Quebec and Ontario report a combined 3,671 new cases of COVID-19 and 49 additional deaths linked to the virus.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2020.

The Canadian Press