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       Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chats with people waiting for their shots at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic on July 15, 2021 in Montreal.

       Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press

       There are now enough COVID-19 vaccine doses in Canada to fully inoculate everyone eligible, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday.

       The federal government hit the critical milestone two months ahead of schedule and after a rocky start to vaccine purchasing in the winter. Since March, the country has moved from drought to deluge in vaccine supply and the focus has shifted to whether enough people will stick out their arms and help avoid a fourth wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

       “These vaccines work and they’re safe and they’re also available,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters at an event in Moncton, N.B., on Tuesday. “So with enough doses for everyone, there’s no more excuses to not get your shot.”

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       Up to the end of March, Canada’s vaccine shipments had not yet hit 10 million, four months later it now has more than 66 million doses. That breaks down to enough shots to fully vaccinate more than 33 million people with the two-dose vaccine. So far Health Canada has approved the shot for people 12 and over. Vaccine makers are still studying the use of COVID-19 vaccines for younger children.

       Despite a much slower start to vaccinations compared to countries like Britain and the United States, Canada now leads the world’s major economies (both the Group of Seven and Group of 20) in vaccinations, according to the Oxford University website Our World in Data. The achievement comes just weeks before a widely expected federal election call from the minority Liberal government.

       “We have done extraordinarily well. We’re at the top of the world in terms of vaccination processes,” Mr. Trudeau said.

       However, despite its progress the country hasn’t yet hit the vaccination coverage needed to avoid overwhelming hospitals in a potential fourth wave. Disease modelling, released in June by the Public Health Agency of Canada, estimated that the country had to hit at least 83 per cent full vaccination coverage among eligible people in order to avoid putting too much pressure on hospitals.

       The most recent numbers from the health agency show that as of July 17, 57 per cent of eligible people have been fully vaccinated and 80 per cent of eligible people have received at least one dose.

       The Prime Minister urged the remaining people who haven’t gotten a shot to sign up for the vaccine, and pointed out that the vast majority of COVID-19 cases in Canada are happening in people who aren’t vaccinated.

       “The overwhelming majority of cases in Canada are in people who haven’t been fully vaccinated yet,” Mr. Trudeau said. “Only one half of one per cent of cases being recorded are in fully vaccinated people.”

       More to come.