Feb 10, 2021
By Jane Brown
We are learning the federal Liberals in Ottawa are being challenged by a fragile global supply chain for special syringes, which are now needed to count six doses instead of five in each vial of COVID 19 vaccine received from Pfizer-BioNTech.
It was on Tuesday Health Canada approved Pfizer’s request for 6 doses per vial, rather than the previous five.
Procurement Minister Anita Anand compares the situation for special syringes to the global scramble for much needed personal protective equipment when Canada competed with other countries to secure scarce supplies of N95 masks and other medical gear.
Anand, who is also MP for Oakville, says the syringes are in incredibly high demand and she says this is why they have not disclosed the suppliers and where the syringes are coming from, because she says Canada is in a very tight race to procure the syringes.
As for new doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Major-General Dany Fortin has provided an update.
“We expect to receive and distribute 400,000 doses next week and 475,000 in the last week of February,” said Fortin, who heads Canada’s vaccinination rollout.
Fortin also explained this is the beginning of ramped up shipments, following weeks of delays.
Canada’s contract with Pfizer is to buy 40-million doses this year, with four-million to be shipped by the end of March, and most of the rest before the end of September.
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