National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I thank the member for his question. I can't help but smile. Some my staff are actually monitoring the immediate situation and detailed delivery from week to week. Of course, the agency is trying to plan everything in a very detailed manner so as to significantly increase the distribution and the effective use of vaccines nationally, as nearly one million doses will be received per week, and perhaps more, starting in April.

National Defence committee  This week we received zero doses.

National Defence committee  Next week we expect to receive 79,000 doses of Pfizer product, as I announced yesterday at the press conference, and, starting in the later half of next week, we now expect to receive 180,000 doses of Moderna. That will be distributed across the country over the coming days through to February 9.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I thank the member for this question. The Public Health Agency of Canada is usually not in charge of administering such a large number of vaccines on a national scale. Among its many tasks is the coordination of the arrival and distribution of vaccines in smaller batches.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I am not aware of any other countries that are providing weekly distribution plans. Questioning other countries is also beyond my purview.

National Defence committee  I understand that the immunization programs in provinces and territories depend on the supplies. We do everything we can to bring supplies in country. There is no strategic reserve. There's no pool of vials or vaccine doses that we're holding onto to cater for shortages in one particular area faster than another to ensure that we don't have a gap between the first and second dose that is beyond what the national advisory committee on immunization has issued in terms of guidance.

National Defence committee  I understand the concern for sure, and it's very much looked at in detail in our projections, but by February 15 we'll have a significant increase in quantities and be moving forward in Pfizer shipments. We expect that provinces will be able to manage that and stick to the NACI recommendation for up to a 42-day interval and specific problems can be flagged by provinces and we can see how we can readjust.

National Defence committee  Those discussions are very much ongoing. We have discussions often with the manufacturers on the details of the shipping for the immediate and the mid-term. We also have discussions at tables where Procurement Canada is also in a position to discuss its own areas of responsibility with the manufacturers.

National Defence committee  I can comment on the vaccines that are currently approved. They are produced in Europe, and they are shipped from Europe to Canada through various means. Some of those products are also manufactured in the U.S. and other locations. At the current time, the U.S. production is aimed at the U.S. market.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I am optimistic, but cautiously so.

National Defence committee  That's right, Madam Chair. This is the result of extensive coordination among the provinces, territories and various stakeholders. It is important to note, I think, that provinces and territories are used to carrying out an immunization plan for vaccines that are stored at temperatures between 2 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees Celsius, in accordance with their own systems and through the usual distribution networks consisting of pharmacies, private clinics, and so on.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, we have very frequent discussions with the provinces and communicate with them in writing on a daily basis, and we regularly share our allocation and distribution tables. Of course, we are doing all this based on data that, according to indications, is relatively definitive and comes from the manufacturer, and on planning data that is to be used with a grain of salt.

National Defence committee  It is a complicated answer. First, I cannot answer in sufficient detail on the issues of procurement. What I work with are the vaccines that have been approved, that we have contracts for and that I know are coming to Canada. That is my wheelhouse: coordinating the distribution.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I thank the member for his question. So far, we have delivered more than 1.1 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. The vaccines are distributed to locations identified by the provinces and territories, which then administer them at their own pace, according to their capacity and immunization plan.

National Defence committee  We do have a plan for distributing Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which are delivered on a weekly basis. As for Moderna vaccines, they are delivered every three weeks. They are distributed in close cooperation with the provinces and territories, which administer them according to their own plan because that comes under their jurisdiction.