OTTAWA -- The first COVID-19 vaccines were injected into the arms of Canadians on Monday, a historic moment some have dubbed 鈥淰-Day,鈥 as the country enters a new phase of the ongoing fight against the novel coronavirus.
In Ontario and Quebec, the first shots were administered to a small group of prioritized people on Monday, after Pfizer-BioNTech鈥檚 initial shipments of doses landed on Sunday night.
This week, 14 sites across the 10 provinces will be receiving Canada鈥檚 initial 30,000 doses, as the country鈥檚 largest and most logistically complex mass-immunization campaign kicks off.
鈥淚'm very pleased with how this is unfolding,鈥 said the top military general who is leading the rollout from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin on Monday afternoon.
The landmark vaccination effort is focusing first on the people who the virus has hit hardest in this country: staff and residents of long-term care homes as well as frontline health care staff treating COVID-19 patients.
Canada鈥檚 first recipient of a COVID-19 vaccine was , a resident at the Saint-Antoine long-term care home in Quebec City. She got her shot at 11:25 a.m. In that province, vaccinations also began at the Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal. That province was set to receive 1,950 initial doses.
鈥淵ou will hear the emotion in my voice, because this is a very big day for us today," said Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé, at a press conference
The first vaccine given in Ontario went to personal support worker Anita Quidangen. She received her shot at the Michener Institute, part of the University Health Network in Toronto, donning scrubs and a face mask. Camera crews were on-hand to capture the moment, carried live on TV, at 12:03 p.m. EST.
"Thank you very much鈥 "I鈥檓 excited," Quidangen said to applause from colleagues.
She was one of five front-line workers from the Rekai Centre鈥攖he first multilingual, non-profit nursing home in Canada鈥攖o be given the first chance to receive some of that province鈥檚 initial 6,000 doses.
鈥淪he has worked tirelessly to care for some of our most vulnerable, both throughout this pandemic and since her first days as a PSW in 1988. Anita has spent years rolling up her sleeves to protect our province, and today, she didn't hesitate to find a new way to do so,鈥 said
Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu was in Montreal for the occasion, and said the last nine months have been traumatic for many Canadians, particularly those who work in or have loved ones inside long-term care homes or other health-care facilities.
鈥淚 know how worried and anxious families and health-care workers are, all across the country,鈥 she said. 鈥淪o I see this as the first step forward into the light.鈥
Sitting in specialized freezer boxes, the doses left Europe for Canada over the weekend, and Fortin said Monday he was not aware of any issues with keeping the doses that arrived so far at the extreme cold temperature required.
鈥淓verything's going according to plans,鈥 he said.
As of Monday evening there had been no reports of adverse reactions among the first Canadian recipients of the vaccine.
THOUSANDS VACCINATED BEFORE 2021
Over the course of the day more shipments from UPS, who the pharmaceutical giant has contracted to deliver the vaccines, have been arriving at the other delivery sites across Canada. At each, plans are in place to start vaccinating even more health-care staff and long-term care home residents and their caregivers, on Tuesday and continuing all week long.
鈥淲e finally have a tool to protect the residents, so it鈥檚 a great day for us,鈥 said Lucie Tremblay, the director of nursing for CIUSSS West-Central Montreal, in an interview on 麻豆影视 Channel. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the beginning of the end of this awful illness. I think that for the last 10 months, everybody was under a lot of stress. We were always afraid that the residents would get the illness, we were afraid of losing residents and we did, unfortunately.鈥
According to federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand, approximately 30,000 more doses are expected to arrive next week, as the country鈥檚 supply will continue arriving in stages.
鈥淐anada is charting its path forward towards recovery,鈥 Anand said Monday.
Though the next round of deliveries could be much larger.
鈥淭here could be significantly more than 30,000, but at this time I'm not prepared to speak to the exact numbers鈥 between now and the end of the end of this month, we can have up to 219,000 additional doses. The exact scheduled delivery remains to be finalized,鈥 Fortin said Monday.
Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro also signalled his province is bracing to get a much larger shipment next week. Initial vaccinations are slated to begin in Alberta on Wednesday, with calls being put in to the early recipients to schedule their appointments.
Retired Canadian Armed Forces Gen. Rick Hillier, who is leading Ontario鈥檚 COVID-19 vaccine task force, said that Monday marks the start of what will be likely close to a year-long process to see everyone who wants to be vaccinated able to do so.
鈥淲e're all feeling, maybe just a little tiny sigh of relief now鈥 maybe there is hope that we'll get out of this incredible period that we've been through that's been so brutal on everybody,鈥 said Hillier in an interview on 麻豆影视 Channel on Monday.
Hillier said Ontario鈥檚 approach is to hold on to half of the vials that have arrived so far, to secure them as the second dose to give to those who are getting vaccinated this week, three weeks from now, rather than give them all out and hope the second round arrives in time.
鈥淲e can't change the supply, I can't make every vaccine that we need show up here on day one and put it into the arm of somebody who needs it and wants it, which is hopefully the vast majority of the population here in Ontario,鈥 he said.
While it鈥檚 the moment many have been waiting for, infectious disease specialist and Ontario vaccine task force member Isaac Bogoch told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning that this first batch is more like a 鈥渢rial run鈥 until more shipments arrive in the coming days and weeks.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a small initial batch,鈥 said Bogoch. 鈥淭hese [14] programs are going to start. It鈥檚 going to take some time for them to take off, but they are going to take off, and soon every Canadian will be able to get access to this and this terrible pandemic will come to an end.鈥
Between now and the end of December, Canada is set to receive 249,000 doses from Pfizer, after the federal government secured an early first delivery just days ahead of Health Canada鈥檚 authorization. The initial plan was to see Canada鈥檚 vaccine effort kick off in earnest in January.
By the end of March Canada is set to receive four million total doses, which is enough to fully vaccinate two million people, given it鈥檚 a two-shot immunization process with the second needle administered 21 days following the first. In total, Canada is set to receive 20 million Pfizer doses.
Those being vaccinated this week won't achieve the promised more than 90 per cent immunity until the second week of January.
The provinces have been tasked with keeping track of who has been vaccinated and ensuring they come back on time for their second shot, but the federal government will also be keeping track of the rates of immunization.
PANDEMIC FAR FROM OVER
The big week finally comes more than nine months after the World Health Organization officially labelled global SARS-COV-2 outbreaks a pandemic and Canadians first entered lockdown amid a first wave of infections. Since then, infections dipped and surged again. Health officials in Canada have confirmed more than 460,000 cases of COVID-19 and close to 13,500 deaths as of Monday. Worldwide, the novel coronavirus has killed more than 1.6 million people.
The Pfizer-BioNTech shots are the first of several vaccines expected to be on the market soon, according to experts, after record-breaking development and production by scientists around the world. Americans began receiving Pfizer vaccines on Monday as well.
Canada has signed deals with seven vaccine manufactures, securing more than 400 million doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines, should all trials pan out.
鈥淭his is incredible stuff. We all know how horrible it鈥檚 been with the pandemic globally and of course here in Canada,鈥 said Bogoch.
But officials are still warning that 鈥淰-Day鈥 excitement doesn鈥檛 mean the pandemic is over. On Sunday night, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that Canadians should continue wearing masks, washing hands, avoiding gatherings and using the COVID Alert exposure notification app.
鈥淭his is good news. But our fight against COVID-19 is not over,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淣ow more than ever, let鈥檚 keep up our vigilance.鈥
Canadians should 鈥渄ouble down鈥 in the coming weeks, as the vaccination programs are likely to face a number of hurdles, Bogoch said.
MODERNA APPROVAL NEXT?
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is not the COVID-19 panacea. Because the vaccine鈥檚 requirements are particularly complicated, including the need to be stored at -70 C, initial doses are not being distributed to Indigenous communities or the territories.
The hope is that the Moderna vaccine candidate, which has yet to be approved by Health Canada but has less complicated storage requirements, will be able to roll out to those communities soon.
Moderna鈥檚 vaccine candidate is now the most advanced in Canada's regulatory process, but there isn鈥檛 a date or estimate yet for when it may be given the green light. Provinces though, are preparing to be able to have access to this vaccine option later this month.
Anand said that the government is currently in talks with Moderna about receiving initial doses early.
鈥淲e are in touch with our suppliers every day, including Moderna, and we are pressing for early deliveries of the doses pending Health Canada regulatory approval,鈥 said Anand in an interview with Evan Solomon on CTV鈥檚 Question Period that aired Sunday.
Bogoch suggested that a 鈥渕obile truck鈥 operation could even administer a less complex vaccine like Moderna鈥檚 to people experiencing homelessness in urban areas, but in the meantime 鈥渨e just have to work within the confines of the vaccine properties that we have access to.鈥
While this week is a promising milestone during a long pandemic, Canadians are a long way out from 鈥渘ormal,鈥 said Bogoch.
鈥淲e鈥檒l probably start to see a lifting of these health restrictions when enough Canadians have had access to the vaccine,鈥 he said.
The federal government is aiming to have all Canadians who want to be vaccinated receive their shots by the end of 2021.
With files from CTV Montreal and CTV Toronto
