Coronavirus (COVID-19) National News

March 11 is now a national day of remembrance because it is the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic.

"The biggest issue is that we have a fundamental right to enter Canada and this is a limit on that right and it's not a justified limit," said Christine Van Geyn, litigation director for the Canadian Constitution Foundation.

Canada pre-ordered 10 million doses of the vaccine, which is the first and only one in Canada's vaccine plan that needs only one dose.

The influx of new shots comes as the federal government looks for vaccine-makers to finalize delivery of a total of eight million doses by March 31.

The vaccine had a 72 per cent efficacy in preventing COVID infections after 28 days in the company's U.S. trials. The efficacy dropped to 66 per cent when averaging in results from other global trials.

Canada has pre-purchased 10 million doses, with options to buy another 28 million. It's not expected that any will flow to Canada until at least April.

Similar advice initially issued in Europe began to be revisited Monday, with France overturning its earlier decision against using it on seniors, and Germany in the midst of reconsidering it.

Canada has ordered 24 million doses of the vaccine, with the majority to be delivered from the United States between April and September.

Canada is to get 20 million doses of AstraZeneca between April and September.

"It will it even (be) before September, I think, depending on a number of factors, such as vaccine uptake, ongoing monitoring of other variants, and how vaccine coverage is provided."