The man heading Canada's vaccine rollout effort faced a slew of questions around Pfizer deliveries and the confusion surrounding them Thursday morning, after reports the company would fall short on its promise of four million doses by the end of March.
"Pfizer has assured us that Canada will receive four million doses by end of March, full stop," Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin said.
But what exactly makes up four million doses is what caused all the uncertainty.
Earlier in the day, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe tweeted that provincial governments had been informed by Ottawa that Pfizer shipments would be cut.
"To 3.5 million to the end of March and that every province will see its allocation reduced," Moe said. "We can't vaccinate people when we aren't getting vaccines & when we aren't getting accurate information from the fed gov."
The more conservative number was included via an updated planning document, as Pfizer has recently requested that six doses be used from each vial, whereas Health Canada has been using five and has yet to agree that six doses would be acceptable.
Pressed multiple times about the lower figure, Fortin acknowledged it could be misleading, as Health Canada has not yet made a decision.
In the end federal officials said that whether or not Health Canada agreed to the change, four million doses would be delivered, either approving of six per vial or by Pfizer shipping more to meet the four million figure by the end of March.
The confidence Fortin has in the company to meet the goals given delays in shipments this month also came up.
"I am cautiously optimistic and I'm going with the data I am provided from Pfizer," he said. "Pfizer is certainly intent on fulfilling the contractual arrangement obligation, and they have assured us we will receive four million doses."
No Pfizer doses are coming in this week and Fortin provided updated numbers for the following weeks, at 79,000 and 70,000 respectively.
Ontario's ministry of health said in a statement that the overall impact of Pfizer disruption works out to 232,050 doses less than what was first communicated for the month of February.
"Pfizer has let us down tremendously," Premier Doug Ford said. "They have an obligation to meet the contract."