Canada’s vaccine failings began decades ago

It was frustrating and even a bit frightening to hear Justin Trudeau warn Canadians this week that they’re nowhere near the front of the line for the COVID-19 vaccines.

Unlike the citizens of the United States, Britain and Germany who can expect to start receiving those game-changing inoculations in December, people in this country will have to wait until some still-unknown date in 2021 for the protection and peace of mind a vaccine will bring.

That’s truly unfortunate. After so many months of sacrifice and suffering, Canadians who heard the prime minister may have felt like passengers on a sinking ship watching others clamber into the lifeboats. And they may have been angry with him.

For the most part, such a reaction would be unfair. More money and pressure from the federal government after the pandemic was declared last March might have resulted in some Canadians being vaccinated earlier than will now be the case.

But the real obstacle in the road to a nationwide vaccine program is that Canada simply lacks the domestic vaccine-manufacturing capacity required for a nation of 38 million people. That it isn’t primarily the fault of the Trudeau Liberals, either.

Blame the decisions made by other federal governments since at least the 1990s. They presided over what Alan Bernstein, a member of Canada’s pandemic Vaccine Task Force, calls the “hollowing out” of the biopharmaceutical industry in this country.

Much, if not most, of that hollowing out occurred under two conservative prime ministers — Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper. So it’s rich to hear today’s federal Conservatives rail against Trudeau.

Those failings more than anything else explain why Canadians will have to join the long queue to get one of the vaccines now being developed — including the three most promising ones from Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc.

This doesn’t mean Trudeau’s vaccine strategy has been flawless. In the summer, Trudeau announced that $44 million in upgrades to a National Research Council facility in Montreal would allow it to manufacture 250,000 vaccine doses a month by November. That hasn’t happened.

Amir Attaran, a professor at the University of Ottawa with the School of Public Health and Faculty of Law, says the federal government could have done better. At the very least, Canada should have been able to make on its own enough vaccine for healthcare workers or vulnerable populations, he says.

Such criticisms shouldn’t be discounted. However, even if Canada could start producing 250,000 vaccine doses a month, it would take years to inoculate its own population without outside support.

Knowing that, Canadians should feel reassured to know the Trudeau government has signed agreements to secure 414 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from seven manufacturers, including the three mentioned above.

The protection we all need for our own personal safety and to deliver this country from the pandemic’s clutches is coming, even if it doesn’t arrive as soon as we’d like. Nor should Canadians be surprised when U.S. and British citizens get first crack at vaccines that they and their governments funded. If it was our money, wouldn’t we claim that right?

What matters most now is how the Liberals position Canada to withstand future pandemics. The $146 million committed this summer to build a new biomanufacturing facility in Quebec should only be the first down payment in establishing a national program to make us vaccine self-sufficient. If hindsight doesn’t give Canadians clearer foresight now, then shame on us all.