‘God Bless America,’ Ontario Premier Says of Biden Vaccine Plan

(Bloomberg) -- Rarely at a loss for words, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was almost overcome with gratitude after learning of the Biden administration’s plan to send 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine to Canada.

“God bless America, they’re coming to our rescue, thank God!” Ford exclaimed during a news conference Thursday , after a local reporter asked about a Bloomberg report on the vaccine plan. “President Biden, thank you.”

New cases of Covid-19 have been creeping higher in Canada’s most populous province as vaccination efforts have been slowed by lack of supply. The province has the ability to administer more than 4.8 million shots per month, but in March has only received enough from the federal government to do just over 1.6 million, Ford said.

“Clearly this math doesn’t add up,” the premier said.

Ford had called on the federal government “to step up” before being told of the Biden news. “I’d heard rumors,” he said jubilantly during the news conference, before calling the U.S. “our greatest friend in the world.”

“If we have to go down there and pick them up, I’ll drive down there in my pickup,” Ford added. “Once I get ‘em, I will call you a champion -- but I need to get the delivery first.”

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