VANCOUVER -- B.C. health officials are planning to meet with the same Calgary-based company that has agreed to supply two million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the Manitoba government.

Speaking at a coronavirus briefing Friday, Health Minister Adrian Dix said British Columbia is following the development of Providence Therapeutics' vaccine with interest, but did not indicate whether the province is currently planning to follow Manitoba's lead and purchase any doses.

"Certainly we're interested in anything in the long run that would create stronger domestic capacity," Dix said, adding that he and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry "will be meeting with the company as well."

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister announced his province's purchase agreement on Thursday, which includes a promise that Manitoba will receive the first 200,000 doses manufactured once Providence Therapeutics' vaccine is approved.

The company's mRNA vaccine is still in its first clinical trials. Providence issued a statement this week indicating it's on course "to manufacture and deliver a COVID-19 vaccine in Canada in 2021," though the timing remains unclear.

Epidemiologists have cautioned that the made-in-Canada vaccine is not an immediate solution to shortfall issues.

While B.C.'s immunization program suffered significant setbacks as a result of delays at both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, Dix and Henry noted the province is expecting increased shipments soon. Those include a delivery of 55,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine at some point next week.

"Thankfully, starting next week, deliveries of our Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will start to resume at much higher levels and we expect to have a significant bump in supply in the coming weeks," Henry said.

"This will allow us to fully resume our province-wide immunization program."

The province has yet to finish vaccinating the at-risk groups identified for Phase 1 of its rollout, including some front-line health-care workers, but Henry said B.C. should be able to expand into other groups, such as seniors living independently in the community, "very soon."

The provincial health officer credited the successful immunization of willing and eligible seniors in long-term care and assisted living facilities for an encouraging drop in transmission and outbreaks in those settings. There are currently 16 active outbreaks in care homes, down from more than 50 one month ago.

As of Friday, B.C. has administered a total of 162,982 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and 17,562 people have received second doses.

With files from CTV News Winnipeg's Charles Lefebvre