TORONTO -- More than 80 per cent of eligible Canadians over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Â鶹´«Ã½â€™ coronavirus vaccination tracker.
The tracker tipped over the 80 per cent mark based on numbers reported by the provinces and territories on Monday.
Canada began vaccinating older Canadians and those most at risk of severe outcomes from the disease in mid-December 2020.
Despite a slow start to the national vaccine rollout due to shipment delays, Canada really began to ramp up its vaccination efforts in the spring.
By Tuesday morning, 80.14 per cent of the eligible population over the age of 12 had been fully vaccinated and 86.75 per cent had received one dose.
Canada is preparing to vaccinate children between the ages of five and 11 as well, but a vaccine hasn’t been approved for this age group by Health Canada yet. On Sept. 20, Pfizer said its vaccine safely worked in children in this age range and would request authorization for its use in Canada soon.
The dose for children is one-third the size of that given to adults.
By mid-September, the country had even paused its scheduled deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines because the provinces and territories already had enough supply to fully vaccinate all eligible people over the age of 12.
As a result, Canada is currently in talks with suppliers and other countries still in need of doses on a plan to donate excess doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The federal government has already promised to donate 40 million doses it bought but can’t use from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and the COVAX vaccine-sharing alliance.
Federal health officials continue to urge all eligible Canadians to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible to prevent further spread of the virus.
“The bottom line is that millions of people across Canada remain unvaccinated and at high risk of COVID-19 infection and severe illness outcomes,†chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said during a press conference earlier this month.
With files from The Canadian Press
