Canada getting 168K Moderna vaccine doses before year end: PM Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has signed a contract to receive up to 168,000 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine before the end of December.

The Moderna vaccine has not yet been approved by Health Canada but Trudeau says deliveries could begin within 48 hours of that happening.

Trudeau also says Canada is set to receive about 200,000 of its total early shipment of COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer next week.

He says there will also be 70 sites across the country ready to administer these doses, a big jump from the 14 distribution sites in place this week.

Moderna's vaccine doesn't require super-cold storage and is the one that will be shipped to remote communities and the territories.

Canada is set to receive another 200-thousand Pfizer vaccine doses next week, with the number of distribution sites set to soar from the initial 14 to 70 next week.