Canada Passes U.S. in Covid-19 Vaccinations After Slow Start

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Canada has fully vaccinated 48.8% of its population against Covid-19, overtaking the U.S. rate for the first time after a delayed start caused by procurement troubles and distribution bottlenecks.

In the U.S, where vaccinations are plateauing in some regions, 48.5% of the population is fully inoculated.

Of those old enough to get the vaccine in Canada, 55% have now received two doses, according to calculations by CTV News based on provincial and federal government data. Health authorities have approved the Pfizer Inc. shot for children 12 years and older.

Rapid progress in the vaccine campaign -- Canada had fully vaccinated only 3% of its population as of the middle of May -- is paving the way for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to relax travel restrictions on the eve of a likely election campaign.

Trudeau said last week that Canada will be able to welcome fully-vaccinated travelers from the U.S. as early as mid-August, and from all other countries by September, if “the current positive path of vaccination rate and public health conditions continue.”

Although vaccinations are ramping up faster now in Canada than in the U.S., Canada’s slower start has placed it behind the U.S. in reopening its economy. Canada’s lockdowns were also generally stricter and longer-lasting. In Ontario, movie theaters, indoor dining and certain other indoor activities were allowed to open on Friday after being closed for months.

Canada’s economy is projected to grow 6.2% this year, compared to 6.6% U.S. growth.

The U.S. is battling outbreaks of delta variant in pockets of the country where mistrust of vaccines is high. Surveys have shown greater willingness among Canadians than Americans to get jabbed, perhaps because of an overall greater trust in government and public health authorities.

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The U.S. is “more polarized,” Janessa Griffith, a researcher at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto who has studied vaccine skepticism, said by phone. “Somehow it became tied into political beliefs that if you wore a mask or not, that was a symbol of where you stood politically.” Public polling has shown much higher rates of vaccine hesitancy among U.S. Republicans than Democrats or independents.

Canada’s slow start was attributed to difficulty in obtaining vaccines and working out logistical distribution among provinces, which shoulder the bulk of responsibility for health care in Canada.

— With assistance by Sandrine Rastello