Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share my time with my hon. friend and colleague from the national capital region, the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell. I am pleased to have the opportunity, at least metaphorically, to rise in the House and speak about vaccine delivery.
Canadians have been struggling through this pandemic for almost a year now. From the very beginning, we have had their health and their safety at the forefront.
That is also true in my riding, Gatineau, where people are patiently waiting, as are the people from Vancouver Island or Newfoundland and Labrador for whom this pandemic has been a challenge. That is what drives and motivates us every day to ensure that we can secure supplies, provide vaccines, the necessary material and equipment for all Canadians and get through this pandemic more quickly.
From day one of the pandemic, Public Services and Procurement and the team at the department have focused on one thing: ensuring the protection of all Canadians. I want to make a point about our current situation and assure Canadians by telling them that we are still on track to provide vaccines to all Canadians who want one.
From day one of the pandemic, we started buying hundreds of thousands of N95 respirators, gowns, surgical masks and any other personal protective equipment that front-line workers need to ensure the safety of Canadians. That is also why we started negotiating early with the manufacturers of vaccine candidates.
In fact, Canada was one of the first countries to sign agreements with Pfizer and Moderna, which are of course the only two currently approved vaccines in Canada. This we did back in early August. We knew that having a diverse portfolio of vaccines with strong delivery schedules and options to increase our orders would ensure that we would have enough vaccines for every Canadian who wanted one as early as possible.
I can assure Canadians that we are on track to vaccinate every Canadian who wants to be vaccinated by the end of September 2021. Through our sound negotiations with these companies, we prepared for every eventuality, in the event of delays in vaccine delivery and in the global supply chain. We are prepared for this situation and we believe that we will still be able to meet our target by the end of September.
We understand that Canadians are urgently awaiting vaccines. They certainly are in my riding, and I know that all members share in that urgency from their constituents. Whether they are people in long-term care homes, front-line workers, grocery workers or drivers, everyone is anxious and wants access to a vaccine quickly. That, of course, motivates and animates us every day. Let me reassure all of those people through their members of Parliament that we are still on track.
Allow me to provide an explanation of the delays that we are seeing with the Pfizer vaccine this week. Pfizer is retooling its distribution at the moment. While this is temporary, it means that the vaccines that we were meant to receive this week will be coming a little later, but let me be clear: We are not losing any doses, not a single one, as part of this retooling. We are still in position to have at least three million people vaccinated by the end of March.
I remind members that we were one of the first countries to approve a vaccine and start distributing it across the country. To date, we have distributed 1.1 million vaccines, which puts us among the top five G20 countries in terms of COVID-19 vaccinations.
As we have been saying, we will continue to receive deliveries of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the coming weeks, and three million people will be vaccinated across the country by the end of March. By the end of June, 13 million people will be vaccinated, and by the end of September, we will be able to vaccinate 36 million Canadians with our orders from these two manufacturers alone.
That is with Pfizer and Moderna alone. Because of our strong agreements with these candidates, we have ensured that we will be able to vaccinate all Canadians who wish to receive a vaccination with just these two vaccines. We have agreements with five other candidates, two of which are currently in rolling reviews with Health Canada. With these contracts, we will far exceed the number of doses that we need to vaccinate all Canadians.
With the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada, we have also ensured that the logistics of distribution to provinces are strong and secure. To ensure that vaccines will be delivered effectively, we entered into contracts with FedEx and Innomar Strategies to provide vaccine logistics.
We have also ensured that we have enough freezers to keep the vaccines stable so that they are ready for use. Furthermore, we have bought syringes, needles, gauze, bandages, sharps containers and all other supplies needed to administer the vaccines. All of these supplies will be provided to the provinces and territories at no cost. We have kept Canadians informed throughout the process so that they can see we are making informed decisions in their best interests. This has been our approach all along.
We started strong by procuring the PPE and medical equipment front-line workers needed. When the global market was incredibly volatile and demand was high, we were still able to begin acquiring and delivering much-needed PPE in a matter of weeks. We took the same approach with vaccines, and we are seeing the benefits of the strong agreements we made unfold now.
Despite our assurances in the House and to the public, sadly the opposition is once again trying to say that this government has somehow missed the mark. Nothing could be further from the truth. I understand that opposition members have the right, the privilege and sometimes the need to raise issues, but one thing that I think we can all agree on is that Canadians require the clarity needed and the assurance that their government is there for them and will provide the vaccinations that we need to get through this pandemic.
The opposition's rhetoric last fall was nothing but hot air. A few days later, we announced that the first vaccines had been approved and that distribution was set to begin.
The Conservative Party tried to instill fear and panic in Canadians by implying that vaccines would not be received until 2030. We know how ridiculous that claim was. How can Canadians be expected to entrust them with their confidence now? It is irresponsible to continue to sow doubt and fear despite clear evidence that we are on track to receive enough vaccines this quarter, the next quarter and throughout this year.
While the Conservatives continue to be partisan and attempt to gain traction with fear tactics, we will continue to work hard for Canadians and to prove that we have their fundamental interests at heart.
With regard to claims that we are far down the list of countries for supplies of vaccines, I want to say that we continue to be in a good position among the G20 countries. In fact, Canada began receiving vaccines in December, well before a number of countries. Countries such as Japan, New Zealand, Australia and South Korea have not yet started vaccinating their citizens.
In response to the claim that we should have seen production delays coming and done something about it, I would like to clarify that we did anticipate that there would be delays in delivery schedules. It is a high-tension, high-pressure race to vaccinate citizens across the world in every country. We anticipated the pressures on this system, and that is why we planned carefully, had a diversified strategy of procurement for vaccination and ensured that any delays would be minor. That is why we are still on track for deliveries in this quarter.
As usual, the opposition's rhetoric holds no water. Once again the members are making bold, unsubstantiated claims, and once again we are proving that this government is there to deliver for Canadians.
As we have demonstrated on multiple occasions, our government puts Canadians' interests first when making any decision. We know that vaccine distribution will be a decisive and complex element of our COVID-19 response. We want to ensure that we are ready to face any situation and that Canadians will be able to receive a vaccine as soon as possible.
That is exactly what we did. The Minister of Public Services and Procurement and our team negotiated solid contracts with seven suppliers of vaccine candidates, an unprecedented number of contracts, to ensure that we will have enough vaccines for every Canadian who wants one.
We have created a strong logistics plan so that as soon as these vaccines are delivered to Canada, they can be distributed to each province and territory as quickly as possible. At every turn, we have done our best to protect Canadians, and that certainly will not stop now.
We will continue to stay focused and to work hard until every Canadian who wants a vaccine can get one. While the opposition and the Conservatives continue their partisan games, we will focus on Canadians and do everything we can to ensure their safety and good health.