Trudeau says Canada has COVID-19 vaccination plan contradicting critics who say otherwise

"We have the plan necessary to get through this, to get the vaccine here, to get the vaccines into peoples’ arms," Trudeau told state broadcaster CBC on Tuesday.

Trudeau’s assertion is in stark contrast to the confusion that has surrounded the Canadian government’s blueprints to procure and distribute a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

To date, the Canadian government has signed preliminary contracts with at least a dozen biotechnology companies to procure their vaccines should they proceed to the production phase. However, critics have said these are only tenders, non-refundable at that, and will leave Canada lagging behind other countries.

Provincial leaders have said the federal government has ordered 6 million coronavirus vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna, with deliveries expected between January and the end of March only to have federal officials refute these claims.

As recently as November 17, Trudeau said the vaccine distribution program is in the works and Canadian Armed Forces Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin was tapped to lead the distribution campaign on Friday.

Trudeau added that Canadian officials will approve vaccines independent of any international developments, when asked whether the Ottawa would accelerate the authorization process to proceed in lockstep with the United States and the United Kingdom.

As of Tuesday, Canadian authorities have reported more than 380,000 coronavirus cases and more than 12,100 virus-related deaths.