Ford appeals to Biden for help securing more COVID-19 vaccine doses for Ontario

Thegloebandmail.com
Jan. 20, 2021

Premier Doug Ford appealed to U.S. president-elect Joe Biden today for help securing more COVID-19 vaccines for Ontario.

Ford expressed frustration about a delivery slow down of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot that will see Ontario receive no doses next week and thousands less over the next month.

Ford appealed to Biden to share a million doses of the Pfizer shot, which is manufactured in Michigan.

He also expressed frustration with Pfizer executives about the delays and urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ramp up pressure on the company to deliver more of the shots to Canada.

Ontario says its weekly deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will be cut by as much as 80 per cent over the next month.

The federal government says shipments are expected to get back to normal levels in late February and early March.

The province still expects to meet its goal of providing the first dose of the vaccine to all of its long-term care residents, workers and essential caregivers by Feb. 15.

That goal has already been achieved in COVID-19 hot spots including Toronto, Peel Region and York Region.

A total of 224,134 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province.

Ontario reported 1,913 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and 46 more deaths linked to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said that due to a technical issue at Toronto Public Health, there was likely an underreporting of cases today.