Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday he was
"frustrated"
by the slowness of the coronavirus vaccination campaign underway for three weeks in the Canadian provinces.
The Canadian government has so far distributed 424,500 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines - the only ones authorized to date in Canada - to the provinces and territories in charge of vaccination, according to official figures.
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But they have so far administered only about 148,000 doses of vaccine, according to local media.
"I think all Canadians, including myself, are frustrated"
by this situation, said Justin Trudeau, during his first press conference after returning from the holiday break.
“We don't want to (see) vaccines in freezers, we want to see them in the arms of vulnerable Canadians,
” he said.
Justin Trudeau is scheduled to meet Thursday with his counterparts from the thirteen provinces and territories on what
"the federal government can do more to help them vaccinate Canadians as quickly as possible,
" he said.
"This is the time to accelerate"
the vaccination campaign, launched the head of government, saying he was optimistic to see
"vaccinated all Canadians who want it by September".
In total, Canada, a country of 38 million people, has ordered and placed options on more than 400 million doses of vaccines from seven pharmaceutical groups, one of the highest ratios in the world according to Justin Trudeau.
The country, where the spread of the virus has accelerated since early December, had more than 5,600 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total to 617,065 and more than 16,000 deaths.
Province most affected by the pandemic, Quebec plans to impose
"a new total containment"
of its 8 million inhabitants as of Saturday, the daily
La Presse
reported on Tuesday
.
Fearing a flooding of the hospital system, Quebec Public Health also recommends that the government impose a
"curfew"
, according to the newspaper, which cites government sources.
The French-speaking province has already been in semi-containment since December 17, until January 11.
Quebec Premier François Legault is due to make an official announcement on Wednesday.