During today's COVID-19 update, Anita Anand, minister of public services and procurement, reported that Canada recently received 643,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the largest shipment to date.
The majority have already been delivered, she said.
A total of 29 million cumulative doses will be delivered before the end of June, and 84 million prior to the end of September, Anand said.
Canada is on track to have everyone vaccinated by the end of September.
Addressing concerns over vaccine safety and security, Anand stated that any improprieties regarding vaccine procurement are immediately reported to the RCMP for potential fraud investigation.
"We take the safety and security of the vaccine supply chain very seriously," she said.
Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, citing more than 800 variants of concern detected world-wide, urged continued vigilance.
"Any easing of public health measures must be done slowly with enhanced testing, screening, and analysis to detect variants of concern."
Dr. Tam stressed the need for continued and efficient contact tracing and isolation methods, and reported that priority vaccination efforts are producing positive results.
