Canada joins US, UK to inoculate people with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
Derek Thompson, a personal support worker, is inoculated with the Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Ontario on December 14, 2020.
Canada became the third country in the world to begin the inoculation of its citizens with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
On Monday, Canada began injecting its frontline workers and the elderly in nursing homes.
The first person to receive the vaccine was Anita Quidangen - whose inoculation was broadcast on live TV. Quidangen works at the Rekai Centre, a non-profit nursing home for the elderly in Canada’s largest city - Toronto, and claimed that she was “excited” to be the first person to get the vaccine in the country.
Soon after she was injected, healthcare workers donning masks and white coats applauded her.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about it and called it a “great relief”.
"It's a great relief. Clearly, it may only be the beginning of the end but we sense nevertheless that there will be an end to this pandemic," said Justin Trudeau.
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He also added that he was in no hurry to get vaccinated himself, saying priority must be given to the most vulnerable people.
"We obviously have to give priority to the most vulnerable but the second I have a chance - like all healthy adults - I will do so very visibly and with enthusiasm," he said in conversation with French-language broadcaster Radio-Canada.
Currently, Canada is witnessing a second wave of COVID-19, whereby businesses are forced to shut again, and social gatherings extremely limited.
So far, the country has reported 460,743 cases of COVID-19. Most cases come from Quebec, the country’s most populous province.
Also read:How the vaccine rollout will compare in Britain, Canada and the US
"It's really good news for Canada. It's really good news for Quebec," country’s Health Minister Patty Hajdu said from the Maimonides Geriatric Center in Montreal, where inoculation also began on Monday.
According to Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dube, 50,000 people will be vaccinated in the province by January 4.
13,431 people have lost their lives to the virus in Canada, 60 per cent of which have taken place in care homes for the elderly. But it’s an improvement from the grim 80 per cent during the first wave.
On Monday, the US also began vaccinating its citizens. Last week, the UK kicked off its national programme to inoculate against COVID-19.