(Ottawa) Canada has delivered about a quarter of its pledged vaccine doses to less affluent countries and can’t say when more doses will be distributed.
In 2021, Canada pledged to donate 50 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from its own contracts with manufacturers, and pay at least an additional 150 million doses through financial contributions to the system.COVAX Vaccines Sharing.
To date, Canada has donated 12.7 million doses and $545 million in cash to purchase another 87 million doses.
COVAX said it could not yet disclose details of the doses purchased, as it is still negotiating prices with vaccine manufacturers.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada “continues to do more than our quota,” but with no vaccine currently being manufactured in Canada, there is little the country can do to speed up donations.
Adam Houston, of Doctors Without Borders Canada, noted that Ottawa was very good at asking for faster deliveries when the doses were intended for Canadians, but it doesn’t seem to be putting the same pressure on manufacturers to speed up deliveries when they are being delivered to Canadians. Dedicated to donations.
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