Trudeau teases 'one-dose summer' if at least 75 per cent of Canadians get vaccinated

At a press conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is indicated Canadians can have a "one-dose summer," even as Alberta stops administering first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to supply concerns.

In a statement to CBC News, Alberta Health spokesperson Tom McMillan said with "no known future shipment" the province will reserve its existing supply for second doses.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc confirmed on Tuesday that 665,000 additional doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive in Canada in the coming weeks, with another million doses under contract, expected to arrive in Canada in June.

As more people receive COVID-19 vaccines, Trudeau indicated there is hope that public health restrictions could loosen, while cautioning that the number of COVID-19 cases needs to come down and more than 75 per cent of Canadians need to receive their first shot.

"People are eager to see what a better summer could look like and a summer in which the vast majority of Canadians have received one dose, with case loads down across the country, will allow us to gather and have barbecues with friends," the prime minister said. "We’ll still have to be careful in a lot of different ways but it will be a slightly better summer."

"It’s really important to get public measures right and drive cases down. Vaccinations alone, one dose alone, won’t allow us to have a good summer. We have to get those case numbers down, we have to crush COVID right across the country."

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, supported Trudeau's comments, stressing that high vaccine uptake needs to be paired with case numbers coming down for restrictions to be eased.