By Canadian Press

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine allocations to Canada already assuming six doses per vial

Jan 28, 2021 | 10:33 AM

OTTAWA — 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.

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Moons

Dec 10, 2024

Question of the Week

Should Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson apologize or resign after it was found he breached a section of council's code of conduct for allowing false or misleading information to be communicated?

Dec 09, 2024

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Donald has it wrong - again

Dec 08, 2024

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.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2021.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press