Canada PM says he will 'absolutely' take COVID-19 vaccine publicly when his turn comes

As Canada began inoculating its citizens with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 shots, PM Justin Trudeau said that he will receive the jab publicly once his age group is in line to be vaccinated. In a televised interview with CBC network, Trudeau said that he will get vaccinated “enthusiastically”. He also added that he would follow the recommendations of public health experts. 

The Canadian leader said, “Absolutely. When my time comes, I will do it publicly and enthusiastically.”

He added, “Whenever, you know, healthy adults in their 40s are open to getting vaccines, I'll be getting vaccinated”. 

Canada began vaccinating people in high-risk categories on December 14 with a relatively limited supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Now, the country expects to receive additional vaccine doses soon both from Pfizer and Moderna suppliers, once health officials authorise the latter. According to the government’s Health Canada, the Moderna authorisation is expected in “coming weeks”. 

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Canada’s vaccine programme 

Currently, Canada has started to distribute at least 30,000 Pfizer-BioNTech batches of shots at 14 key point-of-delivery sites to the priority groups which involve the elderly and vulnerable and the frontline essential workers. Canada will obtain nearly 249,000 doses by the end of December. Earlier at a press conference, Trudeau said that he planned to get the majority of Canadians vaccinated against the novel SARS-coV-2 and the timeline that he had set is “optimistic”. 

While speaking at a press conference, he said, “The fact that the doctors highlighted that if all goes according to plan, we should be able to have a majority of Canadians vaccinated by next September, puts us in very good stead”. 

Meanwhile, last week, the Canadian leader also said that the country has contracted to receive up to 168,000 doses of the Moderna COVID vaccine before the end of December. Trudeau said that the deliveries could begin within 48 hours of regulatory approval and health officials said they expect to approve the use of the Moderna vaccine soon. The US FDA has said that it preliminary analysis confirmed the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine developed by Moderna and NIH. 

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