Manitoba says it’s expecting further reductions of Pfizer vaccine

The Manitoba government says it’s expecting further reductions in the amount of Pfizer vaccine it receives.

It marks the second time in less than a week the federal government has told the province to expect fewer doses than health officials had originally planned for.

“Our planning had been based on 18,720 doses between now and the end of the month,” Health Minister Heather Stefanson said in a statement.

“As of today, that projection has been cut in half, with further reductions expected in February.”

This comes after the federal government announced Tuesday the country would not receive any doses of Pfizer during the week of January 25.

The Prime Minister announced last month Canada would receive 125,000 Pfizer doses per week in January and 500,000 for the month.

Dr. Joss Reimer of Manitoba’s vaccine implementation task force says appointments will continue to be taken as of now, but that could change.

“We have to take another look at how many first-dose appointments can be booked, how many second doses are needed to provide full protection and how these plans fit into what now could be a very unpredictable supply in the weeks ahead,” Reimer said.

The federal government said Friday shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will be reduced by an average of 50 per cent over the next four weeks because the company is scaling up its European manufacturing capacity.

Later that day Manitoba put a pause on new vaccination appointments, but on Monday health officials changed course after Reimer said the province determined it had enough vaccine to continue booking an additional 4,000 appointments.

Before Tuesday’s news of further shortages, Reimer had said Manitoba was to receive about 28,000 fewer doses over the next four weeks.

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