Moderna vaccine could be delivered to Canada before the end of the month

The federal government has reached an agreement with Moderna that would see doses of its COVID-19 vaccine shipped to Canada within 48 hours of Health Canada approval.

The chief medical adviser at Health Canada says things are on track for her department to approve a second vaccine for COVID-19 very soon.

Dr. Supriya Sharma says things ``look positive'' for the vaccine from U.S. biotech firm Moderna but there are still some outstanding manufacturing documents needed before the decision can be made.

Ongoing reviews of two more vaccines are less certain, with AstraZeneca's potentially needing more study before Health Canada is ready to make a decision, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine candidate's review still in the very early stages.

Health Canada approved the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech Dec. 9, and the first doses began arriving in Canada Sunday.

Health care workers in Toronto and long-term care residents in Montreal and Quebec City were the first to receive the vaccine Monday morning.

Long-term care workers from an Ottawa care home will be next, as that city rolls out its vaccination program this morning.