Adina Bresge

Some provinces are setting out on ambitious accelerations of their vaccine rollouts as Canada expands its stockpile of shots to protect against COVID-19.

Canada has seen nearly a 30 per cent drop in active COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, but chief public health officer says strict measures should remain in place as more contagious variants of the virus threaten to derail this downward trend.

Authorities are cautioning Canadians against getting swept up in the excitement of the approaching COVID-19 vaccine rollout, insisting that dropping our guards could have deadly consequences as federal forecasts predict the outbreak's death toll could hit nearly 15,000 come Christmas Day.