Once a world leader in vaccine production, Canada is entirely dependent on foreign sources for COVID-19 shots With the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic raging on, the demand for vaccine doses continues to outstrip Canada’s relatively thin supply. Canada’s domestic vaccine manufacturing capability has been hollowed out, leaving the country entirely dependent on foreign sources for the doses that promise an eventual return to normal life. When the pandemic began, Canada — unlike many other countries — lacked a facility that could be retooled easily to produce the viral vector COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson, or the mRNA products offered by Pfizer and Moderna.