By Canadian Press

Federal government expecting 1M vaccine doses this week after Moderna delays delivery

Apr 19, 2021 | 2:01 AM

OTTAWA — Canada will have to wait a little longer for a promised influx of COVID-19 vaccines.

The federal government says it expects about 1 million shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to arrive this week, as the two pharmaceutical firms continue delivering doses on a regular schedule.

Ottawa had planned to take delivery of about 1.2 million doses from Moderna as well, but that was before government officials revealed last week that the shipment would be both delayed and scaled back. 

The government has blamed a backlog in quality-assurance testing for the reduction, which will cut the number of doses Canada can expect this month in half and postpone their delivery by at least a week. 

Ottawa is not expecting any deliveries of the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Johnson and Johnson vaccines over the next seven days.

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The federal government says it nonetheless remains confident that all adults will be fully vaccinated by the end of September, with several companies promising to speed up their deliveries in the coming months and Pfizer promising additional doses to help compensate for the Moderna shortfall.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2021.

The Canadian Press