Thousands of doses of a second vaccine against COVID-19 are set to arrive in Canada next week.
Health Canada announced Wednesday (December 23) it has authorized the use of the Moderna Inc. (NYSE:MRNA) vaccine.
Ottawa revealed last week it had secured up to 168,000 early doses of the vaccine, which the federal government had at the time expected to arrive within 48 hours of regulatory approval.
But instead of a Christmas Day delivery, those Moderna doses are due to arrive December 28, according to Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the vice-president of logistics and operations at the Public Health Agency of Canada.
As recently as Monday, Health Canada said it could not provide a definitive timeline for when it would complete its review of the Moderna vaccine.
The Canadian regulator, which had been reviewing the vaccine since October 12 through rolling submissions as data became available from Moderna, said then that it had expected its review to be completed in the “coming weeks.”
The Moderna vaccine is seen as critical for immunization efforts in remote areas of B.C. and the rest of Canada.
The competing Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq:BNTX) vaccine requires that it’s maintained at temperatures of -80C before being administered.
The Moderna vaccine is easier to handle and transport as it requires cooling of just -20C.
“The profile of this vaccine is much, much easier to handle in terms of even quote ‘the shelf life’ compared to the Pfizer product,” deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo said in a media briefing in Ottawa.
The provinces have agreed to shift the per capita proportion of Moderna vaccines to the territories to make distribution easier for northern regions, meaning fewer doses of the easier-to-transport vaccine are destined for B.C.
This has the potential to create distribution issues for the province’s own northern regions as Pfizer is responsible for delivery of its vaccine and requires that it must be administered at the point of delivery because of how sensitive it is to handle.
Fortin said there will be more than 100 delivery sites operating across Canada by next week, up from the 14 sites last week.
B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday she’s hopeful that once the supply chain is proofed, Pfizer will loosen those restrictions and allow the doses to be distributed more easily, such as at long-term care facilities.
The arrival of the Moderna vaccine, which will be delivered by FedEx Express Canada Corp. and Innomar Strategies Inc. rather than by the manufacturer, will make it easier to vaccinate residents and workers at care homes ahead of Pfizer loosening restrictions on its own vaccine distribution.
“There’s more capacity than there’s product, for sure, in terms of ability to store at different sites,” Fortin said.
“Every possible site as this stage has the equipment to … store the vaccine.”
He added that provinces and territories are looking at non-traditional medical professionals to administer the vaccinations, including dentists and physical therapists.
Another 125,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive the first week of January, followed by 200,000 doses per week for the remainder of the month for a total of 750,000 doses.
The federal government’s distribution plan is based on assurances from manufacturers that it will receive 4 million Pfizer doses and 2 million Moderna doses by the end of March 2021.
The goal is to have all Canadians who wish to be vaccinated to get their shots by the end of September 2021.
Updated December 23, noon, with additional comments from Njoo and Fortin.
