Canada schedules no target date for first deliveries of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine: PM

People wearing face masks walk past a store with "WE ARE OPEN!" signs in Toronto, Canada, on March 8, 2021. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

OTTAWA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that the country still does not have a target date for the first deliveries of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine because of manufacturing problems.

"We have heard in many conversations with Johnson & Johnson that there are challenges around the production of the Janssen vaccine, but we will continue to engage with them, and we look forward to receiving doses as soon as possible," Trudeau told a press conference in Ottawa.

The vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Belgium's Beerse and owned by U.S. multinational corporation Johnson & Johnson, only requires one shot and does not require ultra-cold storage.

Canada has been assessing the vaccine since Nov. 30, 2020, and approved the use of it last week, following the emergency use authorization of vaccines from three producers, namely Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

The country has pre-ordered 10 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, the first single dose COVID-19 vaccine in Canada's vaccine plan.

Vaccine deliveries in the country slowed down dramatically in February, but then stepped up this month. Almost 1 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines were delivered last week, and 910,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are arriving this week, according to local media reports.

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 1.9 million Canadians had received at least one dose, the reports said.

Canadian Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said Tuesday that the country is not ready to follow the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue guidance on how vaccinated individuals can loosen their public health measures.

There are still too many unknowns, including the effect of variants and how vaccines will affect the spread of the virus, Tam was quoted as saying by Canadian television network CTV News.

"So I think we need to take a thoughtful approach, but it is important that we have to evolve our public health approach as more Canadians are getting vaccinated," she said.

There are "initial positive signs" that vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are preventing transmission and reducing the severity of illness, but it is still early, she said, adding there is also a concern over new variants that do not all respond as well to vaccines.

Data by the Public Health Agency of Canada showed that the country has reported 893,518 total cases and 22,304 total deaths, and confirmed 2,663 variants.

The number of daily new cases in Canada has levelled at around 2,900 in the last few weeks, while the number of daily new deaths is diminishing, according to the agency.