Canada's vaccine pace outstripping much of the world but still lags on second doses

Canada is expected to move ahead of the United States today in at least one of the markers in the race to herd immunity against COVID-19.

By the end of the day nearly 49 per cent of all Canadians should have their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, pushing slightly ahead of the U.S. at just over 48 per cent.

Canada is set to get one dose to more than half the population before the end of the long weekend, but remains far back of the pack in the full-vaccination race, with fewer than four per cent of Canadians fully immunized.

It is a marked turnaround for Canada, which just one month ago remained well behind the global leaders in overall vaccinations as Canadians looked with vaccine envy to places like the U.S., the United Kingdom, Israel and Chile.

Almost 18 million Canadians have received at least one dose, with an average of about 330,000 new people joining the vaccinated group daily over the last week.

Trevor Tombe, an economics professor at the University of Calgary who is tracking Canada's immunization pace against the rest of the world, says with current vaccination rates Canada is on track to surpass the first-dose share of Chile next week, the United Kingdom in two weeks, and should pull even with Israel by mid-June.