The hundreds of thousands of doses of Moderna vaccine that were scheduled to arrive in Canada this weekend will likely be delayed until next Thursday.

The information was confirmed Thursday evening by the office of the Minister of Public Services and Supply, Anita Anand, who said that 255,600 doses of Moderna arrived in the country on Wednesday.

590,400 missing doses, which will eventually be delivered next week rather than over the weekend.

It was emphasized that this delay is not related to EU export controls.

“I spoke with executives at Moderna who informed us that due to delays in the quality assurance process, the 590,400 doses that were scheduled to arrive in Canada this weekend have been delayed by a few days,” Minister Anand said in a statement carried this afternoon. For the media.

She added: “The supplier also informed us that this delay is temporary and will not affect the next scheduled delivery of 855,600 doses in the week beginning on April 5.”

Since the vaccination began, Canada has received 5.9 million doses of the vaccine. Close to 1.2 million doses of Pfizer are expected next week, in addition to 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca “on loan” to Canada by the Biden administration.

“These deliveries, along with the rescheduled Moderna shipment, mean Canada will receive 3.2 million doses next week,” Anita Anand said.