Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on Canadians on Friday not to worry about the increasing concerns on COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the country, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
"When the vaccines are going to come? That's why there's a lot of anxiety and there's a lot of noise going on right now," Trudeau said at a press conference. "I want to reassure Canadians: we are on track."
At a press conference in Ottawa, Trudeau said that he has spoken with Pfizer and Moderna. "I speak almost every week with CEOs of these vaccine companies, and they have assured me that they will meet their obligations."
"I want to reassure Canadians that we're on track," he said, adding that as many as 20 million more doses will start to arrive in the spring as his government keeps its sight on vaccinating all people who want a shot by the end of September this year.
Trudeau asked Canadians to tune out the noise from some circles about the sorry state of the country's vaccine efforts, saying the temporary "ups and downs" may be frustrating to some people, but they're just that temporary.
It is reported that Pfizer and Moderna are grappling with manufacturing issues at their plants in Europe that have severely disrupted deliveries to markets outside the United States. In the United States, both companies are producing vaccines exclusively for the American market.
Asked if Canada had any legal recourse if the companies don't meet their contractual obligations, Trudeau didn't answer.
Trudeau said he spoke with the CEO of AstraZeneca this week, who told him vaccines would follow shortly after Health Canada's green light.
The 20 million AstraZeneca doses reportedly will be delivered between approval and the end of September, with the delivery schedule for those doses to be confirmed after the vaccine is approved.
Health Canada reportedly has assessed AstraZeneca's submission for safety and efficacy since last October, and the two-dose vaccine could be granted approval as early as next week.
So far, more than 1.2 million vaccine shots have already been delivered in Canada, with an estimated 1.3 million more shots slated to arrive this month.
As of Friday afternoon, Canada reported a total of 796,892 COVID-19 cases and 20,594 deaths, according to CTV.
Over the past seven days, there have been an average of 3,947 new cases reported daily, as case counts continue to decline and many provinces reported over 15 percent fewer cases, compared to last week, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada on Friday.