Rarely speechless, Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford was almost overwhelmed with gratitude after learning about the Biden government’s plan to send 1.5 million doses of Vactra-19 from AstraZeneca Plc to Canada.
“God bless America, they are coming to our rescue, thank God!” Ford exclaimed during a news conference on Thursday after a local reporter asked about a Bloomberg report on the vaccination plan. “President Biden, thank you.”
New cases of Covid-19 have been steadily increasing in Canada’s most populous province, as vaccination efforts have waned due to a lack of supply. The province has the capacity to administer more than 4.8 million shots a month, but in March it only received enough from the federal government to make just over 1.6 million, Ford said.
“Of course, that math doesn’t match,” said the prime minister.
Ford asked the federal government to “hurry up” before being informed of Biden’s news. “I had heard rumors,” he said, joyfully, during the press conference, before calling the United States “our greatest friend in the world.”
“If we have to go down and pick them up, I will drive there in my truck,” added Ford. “As soon as I get it, I’ll call him a champion – but first I have to deliver.”