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(Recasts lead with comments by prime minister, adds details,
quote, background)
OTTAWA, March 3 (Reuters) - Canada is "very optimistic" it
can speed up its COVID-19 inoculation program, Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday, a day after Washington moved
up its own deadline by two months.
Trudeau's Liberal government, under fire for the slow pace
of injections so far, has repeatedly insisted that everyone who
wants doses can get them by the end of September.
Hours before Trudeau spoke, an initial batch of 500,000
doses from AstraZeneca Plc arrived in Canada. These had
not been included in Ottawa's initial plan, Trudeau told a
briefing, noting that Canadian regulators were also examining
vaccines from other companies.
"We are working very hard to get more vaccines more quickly.
... We are very optimistic that we are going to be able to
accelerate some of these time lines," he said.
The United States will have enough COVID-19 vaccine for
every American adult by the end of May, President Joe Biden said
on Tuesday. The initial goal had been the end of July.
Trudeau, asked whether Canadian businesses might suffer if
the U.S. economy were able to reopen more quickly, cautioned
against making direct comparisons, saying the crisis had caused
much worse damage in the United States.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Franklin Paul and
Jonathan Oatis)
