The prime minister meets with opposition leaders, while uncertainty swirls around the distribution of vaccine doses



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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is holding a closed-door meeting with his opposition counterparts and receives a briefing from top Canadian public health officials, as uncertainty swirls about how many doses of vaccine the federal government will send to provinces and when it will happen.

Although officials from both Ontario and Alberta are claiming a specific number of early doses of the vaccine, federal officials continue to say it’s too early to have the pinpointed details on how many vaccines each province will receive once they are approved by Health Canada and how much quickly the doses could reach each province once that happens.

“A lot of preliminary discussions are underway about our plan to… launch vaccines and distribute them across the country. We know there is still uncertainty as to when those vaccines will be produced, they are all still in various stages of testing and although they have signed contracts around delivery dates, we know there are still a lot of uncertainties to come, “Trudeau told reporters. Thursday.

“The goal we have as a government is to ensure that when these vaccines arrive and are safely approved by health authorities, they are delivered as quickly as possible to vulnerable Canadians as a priority and then to all Canadians. We are working closely with the provinces to determine what they are, but these discussions are still in a preliminary phase. “

On Wednesday, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said the province plans to receive 2.4 million combined doses of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines during the first three months of 2021, with more to follow later.

Speaking Wednesday at CTV’s Power Play, Parliamentary Health Secretary Darren Fisher went so far as to say that he “didn’t know” where Elliot got his numbers.

Asked Thursday if Elliot was wrong in stating the figures he made, Trudeau just said there are “a lot of numbers out there” and it’s too early to confirm this, despite Ontario Premier Doug Ford backing Elliot.

The conversation about vaccine distribution may arise during Trudeau’s meeting with opposition leaders, as preliminary but promising news from both Moderna and Pfizer caused a whirlwind of questions about how the vaccine would be launched in Canada. . Dr Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer, also reported earlier this week that updated national COVID-19 modeling will be unveiled shortly, as cases continue to rise and few regions are showing signs of flattening their COVID-curves. 19.

With files from Nicole Bogart from CTV News

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