After US, Canada begins vaccination

TORONTO/MONTREAL Dec 15

Canada kicked off its inoculation campaign against Covid-19 on Monday by injecting frontline healthcare workers and elderly nursing home residents, becoming just the third nation in the world to administer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The first dose broadcast on live TV went to Anita Quidangen.

The personal support worker at the Rekai Centre, a non-profit nursing home for the elderly in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, said she was “excited” to have been first in line.

Healthcare workers in masks and white coats applauded after she was injected. “It’s a great relief. Clearly, it may only be the beginning of the end but we sense nevertheless that there will be an end to this pandemic,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, making clear he would not be pressing to have his shot immediately.

“We obviously have to give priority to the most vulnerable but the second I have a chance — like all healthy adults — I will do so very visibly and with enthusiasm,” he said. The vaccine is given in two doses, three weeks apart. — Reuters