The federal government promises as many as 14.5 million Canadians will receive the COVID-19 vaccine by June.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in his address Friday, indicated the updated vaccine timeline indicates there is the capability to promise the large numbers of vaccinations:
- A shipment of over 400,000 doses of COVID vaccine arrived in Canada on Wednesday
- Next week another shipment of nearly 500,000 will be in the country
- Canada is set to receive six million doses of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine by the end of March
- 84 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered to Canada by September
“We have shared an updated vaccine delivery schedule with the provinces and territories so that they’re ready to roll out almost a million and a half doses over the next three weeks,” says Prime Minister Trudeau.
The Prime Minister also announced the extension of COVID-19 emergency benefits including:
- A 12 week continuation of the Canada Recovery Benefit and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (38 weeks total)
- Employment Insurance will now be available for 50 weeks
- The $500-per-week Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit will be offered for up to four weeks of missed work
