OTTAWA COMMISSIONS COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR VACCINE ROLLOUT

The federal government has awarded international accounting firm Deloitte a $16-million contract to build a national computer system to manage the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The contract was recently posted to the federal procurement department’s website after Ottawa called on companies in December to submit proposals for developing the system. Federal officials last month defended the existing systems used to track vaccine distribution across Canada, specifically those used for flu inoculations each year. Procurement Minister Anita Anand and Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said the new system would simply add to the effectiveness of those existing tools. That includes connecting the systems used by different provinces to track and manage vaccine distribution.