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Over 20M COVID-19 vaccine doses now sitting in Canadian freezers

Click to play video: 'Canada signs with Moderna to open mRNA vaccine plant'
Canada signs with Moderna to open mRNA vaccine plant
WATCH: Canada signs with Moderna to open mRNA vaccine plant – Aug 10, 2021

Canada has gone from being desperate for every dose of vaccine it could get to stockpiling millions of them in freezers across the country.

Data on vaccine deliveries, distribution and injections provided by Health Canada and the provinces show almost 22 million doses have been delivered but not yet used.

That includes a national “reserve” of nearly 10 million doses, and more than 11.7 million doses delivered to provincial and territorial governments that have yet to be administered.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand says how many of those doses can be considered excess and available for donation to other countries is still up in the air.

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Canada to donate 17.5 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to COVAX

That’s because of ongoing conversations about whether and when booster doses are needed for some or all Canadians, and how many doses will be needed to vaccinate children under 12 when vaccines are eventually approved for them.

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Almost 23.6 million Canadians are now fully vaccinated, or 71.3 per cent of all people at least 12 years old.

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