Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my fellow New Democrats, I also rise to propose an emergency debate regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine distribution.
New Democrats and Conservatives do not often agree, but we agree fundamentally on this issue, and I think it is telling that when we have the official opposition and the New Democrats, who make up a very high percentage of members of this House, agreeing on the importance of this emergency debate, that should be highly persuasive to the Speaker.
I think I speak for all parliamentarians when I say that Canadians are extremely concerned about the impact that delayed shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will have on Canada's vaccination schedule. At a time when COVID-19 cases are surging, this interruption will further delay vaccination for Canada's highest-risk populations, because that is who we are starting our vaccination programs with.
In addition, highly contagious COVID-19 variants are spreading across Canada, some from Britain and some from South Africa. Indeed, every day the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is delayed will result in avoidable infections and deaths.
Last week, the United States administered an average of 1.16 million vaccine doses per day. As of yesterday, Canada had only administered an overall total of 816,557 vaccine doses. The Public Health Agency of Canada's latest modelling projects that Canada is on track to hit 10,000 new daily cases by February. That is in only a short week. Canada remains on a rapid-growth trajectory, with widespread community transmission and increased outbreaks in long-term care facilities across our country.
Canadian labs have now detected about two dozen cases of highly contagious COVID-19 variants in our country so far. Data from the U.K. suggests that its variant is 50% more transmissible person to person than the common strain. Last week, Major-General Dany Fortin, the military commander overseeing vaccine logistics for the Public Health Agency of Canada, confirmed that Canada will only receive about one-third of expected deliveries to February 7, 2021. That is two weeks from now. We know that Canada is set to receive no new deliveries of doses this week and only 79,000 doses in the first week of February.
The European Union will have a much shorter interruption in deliveries than Canada, despite assurances from the federal government that countries will be impacted equally by supply reductions. While Canada will receive zero doses this week, Pfizer has just confirmed that it will be back to the original schedule of deliveries to the European Union beginning the week of January 25, while we get none.
Finally, there was some alarming news out of the European Union just today. It may be seeking export restrictions on all vaccines produced in Europe because it is concerned that there may not be enough vaccines in Europe. While the government has assured us that the current vaccine interruption by Pfizer is temporary, we actually have evidence and signs that there may be further production disruptions or export disruptions in the future.
There is no more important issue to all parliamentarians and Canadians than their health. We are in the middle of a global pandemic, and vaccines, as the Leader of the Opposition just stated, are our way to get control of this problem. I cannot think of a more important issue for an emergency debate than vaccine distribution in Canada and I hope you will grant this very reasonable emergency request.