Moderna COVID-19 vaccine's first shipment arrives in Canada a day after approval

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted along with a photo of a FedEx plane being unloaded that the shipment contains a portion of the 168,000 doses expected to arrive before the end of the year. 

"This is another big step in our national vaccine rollout," Trudeau said. "But it doesn't mean we can let up just yet. The vaccine won't help you if you get sick now."

Repackaging of doses into smaller amounts by Logistics company Innomar and their distribution to the provinces and territories would begin next week.

Vaccinations in northern, remote, and Indigenous communities had not yet begun due to their lack of health infrastructure to safely store the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which must be stored at -70 C to remain stable. 

The ease of shipping of Moderna's vaccine doses and their storage at regular freezer temperatures would facilitate the start of the vaccinations in these communities.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand tweeted that these doses would be the first deployed to Canada's North.

Canada is on track to receive 1.2 million doses of both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna by the end of January 2021, said Trudeau on Wednesday.

Contracts with Pfizer-BioNTech had been secured by Canada to access 20 million doses, and with Moderna for 40 million doses to enable vaccination for everyone living in Canada by September 2021. 

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)