As provinces expand booster eligibility, feds won’t say when next vaccine delivery will be

As provinces ramp up vaccinations amid the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the federal government won’t say when the doses required to provide every fully-vaccinated Canadian a booster shot will be delivered.  

The federal government has signed agreements to purchase up to 76 million doses of Pfizer and 36 million doses of Moderna in 2022, but when asked over two days by CTV News if it had a delivery schedule in place with either company, no answer was given by the office of Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi and officials from Public Services and Procurement Canada.

PSPC department officials told CTV News that they needed to speak with “experts” within the department to obtain delivery schedule information.

Earlier this year, when Canada received millions of vaccines on a weekly basis, then-Procurement Minister Anita Anand and public health officials regularly briefed journalists about deliveries, and posted delivery schedules online.

A lack of clarity around future delivers comes as provinces are looking to rapidly increase booster shot campaigns to deal with a surge in Omicron cases. On Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford set a goal of administering 200,000 to 300,000 doses a day in that province. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly said that, when Canadians are eligible to get booster shots, the federal government will have the necessary supply available to meet demand.

In an interview with Evan Solomon airing this Sunday at 11 a.m. EDT on CTV’s Question Period, Trudeau said “we have procured enough supply for everyone to get boosters. Delivery of those booster is on the provinces and they are setting up their timelines.”

But in order to meet the PM’s commitment, Canada will require more booster doses from vaccine makers.

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters on Wednesday that 16 million doses of unused vaccines are in Canada, split between provincial and federal stockpiles.

Numbers reviewed by CTV News show the federal government needs to procure roughly 10 million more doses to have enough shots to give boosters to everyone who has already been fully vaccinated.

Duclos says he is not concerned supply of vaccines will be an issue, saying that at the current rate of vaccination, the 16 million doses already stockpiled would be “enough for many weeks.” 

On Wednesday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney called on the federal government to procure additional booster doses and release federally-held vaccines to help his province speed up booster shots.

“The reality is we can only increase appointment availability, at the pace of the supply that we have procured by the federal government,” said Kenney, who added that several premiers shared this view during a call with the prime minister on Tuesday night.

The Public Health Agency of Canada did not answer repeated inquiries from CTV News on whether provinces had asked Ottawa to release federally-stockpiled doses to help province speed up the distribution of boosters.