HALIFAX -- New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is asking the federal government for more COVID-19 vaccine doses, saying the province is ready to administer far more than it’s getting.

"We can do it so much faster," said Higgs in a Fredericton news conference Tuesday. "We in fact could ultimately do it in 10 weeks, but we need vaccines to do that."

At the rate vaccine is arriving in the province, Higgs said achieving herd immunity could take until late spring or mid-summer 2021.

Higgs said New Brunswick has the capacity to vaccinate a minimum of 45,000 people weekly.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the topic of accelerating Canada’s vaccine rollout would be discussed during a weekly call with premiers happening Thursday.

According to the CTV News coronavirus vaccine tracker Tuesday evening, 2,905 New Brunswickers have been given a COVID-19 vaccine to-date (representing 0.372 per cent of the province’s population).