British Columbia’s health minister says the reduction in shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to Canada will have a significant effect, but only in the immediate future.

Adrian Dix says the shortage in supply affects the province’s vaccination plans through February and March.

“They send us vaccine and we use it. It’s going to continue to be our policy to have two doses, so we continue to have Pfizer and we continue to have Moderna,” he said.

“We are going to look at the effect of this on doses, but those decisions haven’t been made yet on how we organize first and second doses. Obviously, when you get less vaccine, it has an effect on the number of people you can deliver first doses to in particular.”

The shortage, because of production issues in Europe, means the province is expected to get about half of the 50,000 doses it was supposed to get through to March.

Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand called the delay ‘unfortunate’ but noted it is expected to be made up by the end of March.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted that most Canadians will still be vaccinated by the fall, noting this is why Canada has one of the most diverse vaccine portfolios in the world, pointing to seven agreements the government has signed with manufacturers.

For now, Dix says the delays may mean that health officials will have to revisit the 35-day gap between providing the first and second doses of the vaccine to the thousands of people who’ve already received their first dose of Pfizer vaccine.

“We’re going to have to look at this and plan out the effect of this in the short run,” he added. “It has a real impact when you get less vaccine, but we are told the period from March on we’re going to see a significant amount of vaccine, absolutely.”

The World Health Organization recommends the doses of vaccines be given 21 to 28 days apart, although provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said B.C.’s decision for a 35-day gap is safe and would allow for more people to get their vaccine.

Dix says the premier and health officials will have further announcements about proceeding with vaccination plans in the coming week. As of yesterday, there were 75,914 people in the province who had gotten their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

– With files from The Canadian Press