Canada to receive 1.5 mln AstraZeneca doses from US next week

The United States will deliver 1.5 million surplus doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine to Canada next week, Canadian Procurement Minister Anita Anand announced Friday.

Washington last week said it would send millions of doses to neighboring Canada and Mexico. AstraZeneca is approved in both countries, but is still awaiting the FDA's green light for use in the United States.

"I can now confirm that (the doses) will arrive in Canada this coming Tuesday by truck," Anand told a news conference in Ottawa.

Separately, Canada has ordered 20 million AstraZeneca jabs plus another two million doses of the same formula made by the Serum Institute of India.

Hedging bets, Ottawa has ordered or reserved a total of more than 400 million doses of vaccine from seven suppliers for a population of 38 million.

To date, only 11 percent of Canadians have received at least one shot, but authorities said vaccine shipments are expected to ramp up in the coming weeks.