TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2020) Canada is exercising contract options with Moderna to procure an additional 20 million vaccine doses from the US biotechnology giant, Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand told reporters on Friday.
"Canada is exercising options for an additional 20 million doses of the Moderna vaccine candidate," Anand said.
The additional 20 million doses bring Canada's total number of vaccine doses reserved from Moderna to 40 million, Anand added, with deliveries to be made throughout 2021.
The Federal government has also linked a deal with FedEx and Innomar Strategies to assist the Canadian military with the delivery of the vaccines, Anand announced.
On Thursday, Canada's vaccine distribution czar Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin said that the Canadian government is targeting a January start date for the COVID-19 vaccine delivery rollout.
The officials could not confirm if vaccines would be arriving in Alberta by January 4 as announced by Premier Jason Kenney earlier this week.
To date, the Canadian government has linked agreements with seven biotechnology companies to procure their vaccines should they proceed to the production phase, with four currently under evaluation by the country's health regulators.
As of Friday, Canadian authorities have reported nearly 400,000 coronavirus cases and more than 12,400 virus-related fatalities.
