Canada Still on Track for 4M Pfizer Doses by March
The Claim
Canada will receive hundreds of thousands fewer doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine than previously anticipated.
News posted on
Emerging story
Originally reported by Global News, a Facebook post claims that “Canada will receive hundreds of thousands fewer doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine than previously anticipated."
Facebook users were not happy to hear this news, calling the Canadian government a joke and saying that “ALL Canadians should be [angry]”.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found this claim to be fake. The original news story posted by Global News was updated, changing the headline from “Canada’s expected COVID-19 vaccine shipments reduced again” to “Officials insist Canada still on track for 4M Pfizer doses by March despite planning data.”
The original Facebook post was also updated to read “After a chaotic morning of questions prompted by planning data, the Prime Minister’s Office insists Canada will get the promised four million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine.”
According to Reuters, this all resulted from some mathematical confusion. Pfizer’s vaccine currently comes in vials which are used to administer 5 doses of the vaccine if using a standard syringe. Pfizer has asked Health Canada to increase the number of doses it extracts from each vial to 6 by using special syringes.
According to Pfizer and confirmed by the CDC, standard syringes can only consistently draw five doses out of each vial and there is some excess that remains. If the medical professional administering the vaccine uses a special kind of syringe, it’s possible to extract 6 doses from a single vial.
A source from the Prime Minister’s Office told Global News hat it is expected Health Canada will change the doses used in each vial from five to six. When that happens, Canada will hit its four million target with the same number of vials being shipped by Pfizer.
