How do you get Canadian vaccines on your arm from the factory

You enter the vaccination center at the Palais des congrès, the convention center in downtown Montreal, and the process is almost like dancing.

Soon the vaccine will be in your arm and you will be on your way. From afar, it feels like a well-oiled process as people slide from table to table.

But the complex organization behind the scenes – including how vaccines are made, and dose after dose – is what makes this possible.

“The first thing I do every morning is check the number of doses we have ready to make sure they match the number of appointments for the day,” said Camille. Bouchar Coulomb, Deputy Director of the Gallery. Minors inoculation site.

Bouchar Colombi is one of the many people who work behind the scenes at the palace – and other vaccination sites in the county – to ensure that anyone who wants a vaccine gets the vaccine and that no dose is wasted.

CBC Montreal followed the complicated route of a person’s arm mRNA vaccine. It is a model that could develop if Canada manufactured its own Novavax vaccine, which is awaiting approval by the Canadian Ministry of Health.

Staff at the Palais des congrès vaccination center in Montreal gently shake vials of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine after thawing. (CBC)

However, the country has so far ordered at least 381 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, enough to vaccinate a Canadian five times.

Canada currently uses four vaccines: AstraZeneca-Oxford / Covishield, made in India, South Korea, and the United States; Pfizer-BioNTech, Made in Belgium; Moderna, Made in Switzerland and Spain; Johnson & Johnson, Made in the USA

Canada has approved four vaccines so far: AstraZeneca-Oxford / Covishield, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johson. (CBC)

Pfizer is the vaccine that will hit the arms of most Canadians largely due to the quantity Canada ordered and the fact that the company has made the most consistent deliveries.

Since there is no local production, vaccines have to pass through complex logistical routes to reach the vaccination sites. These pathways are managed by teams at the federal, state, and local public health levels.

In Montreal, major mass vaccination sites receive deliveries several times a week. At the Palais des Congrès, for example, this corresponds to over 20,000 boxes per week.

Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine is manufactured in Port, Belgium. He is by far the one who will fall into the arms of most Canadians. (CBC)

The staff have it all for science – cans are emptied, heated, remodeled, arranged, packed, delivered, and meticulously injected. And it repeats itself throughout the day, seven days a week.

While building a Canadian mass vaccination campaign took a long time, the work is now a proven process.