toronto canada is getting a fourth vaccine to prevent covid19 as the countrys health regulator has cleared a johnson johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two officials said fridayhealth experts are eager for a oneanddone option to help speed vaccination canada has also approved vaccines from pfizer moderna and astrazeneca and health canada is the first major regulator to approve four different vaccines said dr supriya sharma health canadas chief medical adviserlike many countries canada does not have domestic production and has struggled with an immediate shortage of vaccines the us so far isnt allowing locally made vaccines to be exported so canada like the other us neighbor mexico has been forced to get vaccines from europe and asiaprime minister justin trudeau said canada has an agreement with johnson johnson for 10 million doses before september it was not immediately clear when canada would get its first shipments of thosebut trudeau announced pfizer would deliver an additional 15 million doses to canada in march and another 1 million doses ahead of schedule in both april and maywe have reasons to be optimistic were going to be able to move things forward trudeau said but at the same time we also know that these are global supply chains that are being set up and theres always possibility for disruptionsthe us approved johnson and johnson last month the us food and drug administration said jjs vaccine offers strong protection against what matters most serious illness hospitalizations and death one dose was 85 protective against the most severe covid19 illness in a massive study that spanned three continents protection that remained strong even in countries such as south africa where the variants of most concern are spreadingjj also is seeking authorization for emergency use of its vaccine in europe and from the world health organization the company aims to produce about 1 billion doses globally by the end of the year last month the island nation of bahrain became the first to clear its usethe vaccine shortage is so acute in canada that provincial governments are now saying they will extend the interval between the two doses of pfizer moderna and astrazeneca vaccines to four months rather than three to four weeks so they can quickly inoculate more peopleit is a reasonable recommendation if we can get earlier doses we dont have to wait for four months to give second doses if the supply opens up sharma saidretired gen rick hillier who leads the vaccine program canadas most populous province of ontario said all adults could receive the first dose by june 20our aim would be to allow the province of ontario to have a first needle in the arm of every eligible person who wants it by the first day of summer hillier saidthe manitoba provincial government is now predicting it will be able to offer all eligible adults the first dose this spring months ahead of its previous planit is possible