Photo: The Canadian Press

The delivery slowdown of COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer-BioNTech is going to be far worse than the companies first warned Canada last week.

Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, overseeing the vaccine rollout for the federal government, says Canada is getting only about one-third of the expected deliveries between this week and Feb. 7 and still doesn't know how many doses Canada will be shorted the week after that.

Pfizer warned Canada last week that plans to upgrade its plant in Belgium would mean a temporary reduction in production that would cut into the doses delivered to every country but the United States.

The pharmaceutical company initially said Canada's deliveries would be cut in half over four weeks, before the factory returns to full production Feb. 15.

Canada is not alone in its disappointment, with the United Kingdom, Europe, Mexico, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia all reporting cuts in deliveries until mid-February.

Fortin says Pfizer assures Canada it will still deliver four million doses, as the contract stipulates, by the end of March.