After quickly approving a vaccine and getting an early start to inoculations, Canadians worry as the country falls behind in vaccinations.

By Ian Austen

OTTAWA — Canada seemed to be off to a quick start. Its regulator had approved a coronavirus vaccine codeveloped by Pfizer just ahead of the United States, and national newscasts were soon filled with images of people getting their first injections.

But the hopes raised by the vaccination launch in December — buoyed, too, by news that Canada had ordered doses equal to 10 times its population — have soured. Production issues at Pfizer and Moderna, makers of the only two vaccines currently approved in Canada, have led to reduced shipments — including some weeks in which no vaccine has arrived at all.

But while the disruptions have become the talk of the nation, more fundamental factors involving Canada’s strategic decisions and its production realities have always meant that the launch of vaccinations would be more of a test run than a full-on rollout.

Even if Canada gets back on schedule, this nation of 37.5 million people is expected to receive just six million doses by the end of next month. To date, only about 1.5 million people have been injected.

Updates of a global ranking of vaccinations now receive nearly as much attention as hockey scores in the Canadian media. As Britain and even the United States, despite its problems, continue to rise in the rankings, Canada has dropped well down the list, sandwiched this week between Bangladesh and Romania.

The nation’s vaccine anxiety has, according to polls, led to a drop in approval ratings for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s performance during the pandemic. Nearly 60 percent of Canadians think the country should be performing better or at least as well as other industrialized nations, one poll found.

It’s also prompted sometimes heated criticism from the Conservative opposition in Parliament and from several provincial premiers whose governments are responsible for sticking needles into arms.

“While the world is vaccinating by the millions, the government can only deliver a few thousand,” Erin O’Toole, the Conservative leader, said in Parliament on Tuesday. “Where is the plan to get vaccines into the arms of Canadians?”

Mr. Trudeau, while acknowledging the impatience, has tried to offer assurances.

“People are worried, people are tired of this pandemic,” he said at a news conference last week. “There’s a lot of anxiety, and there’s a lot of noise going on right now. That’s why I want to reassure Canadians that we are on track.”

Canada has not been alone. Short shipments of vaccines have also led to tensions in Europe and other parts of the world

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