National

Higher dose count factored into Pfizer's shipments

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Jan, 2021 06:50 PM

Pfizer and BioNTech are already assuming Canada will agree its COVID-19 vaccine vials contain six doses instead of five and are using that to project how many vials it will send Canada in the coming weeks.

Deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo says Health Canada is still reviewing the request to formally change the label and is examining whether that sixth dose can be extracted consistently.

Canada has some existing supply of the special syringes needed to do so and two million of a recent order for 37.5 million of them are to arrive in Canada starting Feb. 4.

But in the meantime Pfizer is already using the new six-dose formula in its allocation of vaccines for Canadian shipments through to the end of March.

Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin says if Canada doesn't agree to the label change, Pfizer will increase the number of vials it sends to meet its contract for four million doses.

However a planning document sent to provincial governments by Ottawa this morning lays out the doses coming at the five-dose formula, which left provinces believing they will be shorted half a million doses of vaccine this quarter.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Police search for woman who tripped Burnaby, B.C. senior

Police in Metro Vancouver are searching for a woman who casually approached a senior who was using a walker, tripped her from behind and walked away.

Police search for woman who tripped Burnaby, B.C. senior

Police need more than an unverified tip to avoid drug-case entrapment: top court

An unsubstantiated tip that someone is dealing drugs from a phone number doesn't amount to reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled.

Police need more than an unverified tip to avoid drug-case entrapment: top court

Garneau says still no black boxes from Iran in January shootdown of airliner

Canada and four other countries are still trying to pressure Iran to release the flight recorders from its Jan. 8 shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Friday.

Garneau says still no black boxes from Iran in January shootdown of airliner

Statistics Canada says first-quarter GDP worst showing since 2009

Canada's economy had its worst quarterly showing since 2009 through the first three months of 2020, and may be headed to an even steeper drop, as steps taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 forced businesses to close and lay off workers.

Statistics Canada says first-quarter GDP worst showing since 2009

Trudeau acknowledges racial unrest in U.S.; 'We also have work to do in Canada'

America's anger, frustration and discord boiled over in Minnesota's Twin Cities on Friday at a remarkable moment in the history of the United States, sparked by the collision of racial injustice, freedom of expression and the worst public health crisis of the last 100 years.

Trudeau acknowledges racial unrest in U.S.; 'We also have work to do in Canada'

Another $650M in COVID-19 aid bound for Indigenous communities, Miller says

The federal government is planning to spend $650 million more to help Indigenous communities cope with the pandemic, after months of First Nations, Inuit and Metis leaders saying the previous amount was inadequate.