Premier's vaccination plan not glitch-free
Premier has no business railing against drug firms
News of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine production slowdown, which reduced Canada's supply at a time of surging COVID-19 cases, certainly came as a big disappointment. But there was no need for Premier Doug Ford to be overly dramatic about it and start hammering away.
“Ontario premier blasts Pfizer,” over the vaccine shortage, one headline noted. “It makes me very, very angry,” Ford said, making clear his fury was not directed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “I am just angry at the situation that other countries are getting it. … We have to be on those guys (at Pfizer) like a blanket. I would be outside that guy's house. Every time he moves, I would be saying `Where's our vaccines?'”
There's nothing to be angry about. Ford is grandstanding. His comments make a good sound bite but are totally unnecessary. This isn't the time to be throwing punches at a vaccine manufacturer. He should tone down the rhetoric.
Let's remember one thing: We are here today talking about vaccine supply — or the lack thereof — because companies such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna gave us a lifeline. They and others raced like never before to get effective vaccines in months, when it would normally take years. It's something of a miracle that 10 months into a deadly pandemic, people are already being vaccinated. Nothing of this magnitude can be undertaken without some logistics hitches.
Of course, news of the cutback in the middle of a raging pandemic felt like a punch to the gut. But this isn't a situation where a company is cutting back supply to create an artificial demand for more profit. Pfizer slowed down production at its plant in Belgium because it was retooling to ramp things up. The company said it had to do this to be able to keep up with demand, and no one has questioned its motives. This means Canada and some other countries that get their vaccines from the Belgian plant will experience temporary delays and reductions. The U.S., which gets its supply from Pfizer's Michigan plant, won't be affected. In Canada, perhaps up to 50 per cent of the supply for January and February will be cut.
The federal government says Canada's overall supply will remain the same and what was lost will be made up in subsequent deliveries. The government says this is a temporary blip and its plan to vaccinate all Canadians who want it by September remains intact.
That should have settled it, but Ford, perhaps reacting to news that Pfizer has promised European Union countries their supplies would resume quickly, went on the attack, alleging Canada was being left behind. “Other countries are getting them; the European Union is getting them. Why not Canada? That's my question for Pfizer,” Ford said.
It's worth noting that whether it's one week or one month, many EU countries will see their vaccines delivered later than anticipated. And they are adjusting their timelines accordingly. More importantly for Canadians, the federal government's timetable for vaccinating everyone over the medium-to-long term doesn't change.
Ford should look at his own house and what he once described as “bumps in the road” when it comes to vaccine rollout. Ontario was one of the provinces slowest to roll out vaccines. It was the Ontario vaccine task force that took a Christmas holiday when it should have been on the job. It was the province in which vaccines were given to non-front-line staff, including administrators, volunteers and some people who work from home, while the most-in-need waited. All this was chalked up to teething problems, inevitable in a big and complex undertaking such as this vaccination campaign.
Given the massive global demand and the vicissitudes of the manufacturing process, it should come as no surprise that we are facing bumps in the road. The good news is, Pfizer is retooling to beef up production. Leaders such as Ford should be celebrating how remarkably well we've done, not berating the very people who helped us do it. This not the time to score political points.