Vaccination program at a `standstill,' MPs told

OTTAWA • Saskatchewan’s health minister said lastminute delays in the federal government's rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has crippled the province's ability to inoculate residents, elevating the risk that some people may not get their second doses within the recommended time frame.

Testifying before the House of Commons health committee Monday, Saskatchewan Minister of Health Paul Merriman urged Ottawa to secure more doses as supply gaps emerge in federal plans.

“While our provincial vaccine administration plan continues to be very effective, we are now virtually at a standstill with no vaccines delivered to Saskatchewan in over a week, and limited quantities now expected in the next few weeks,” Merriman said.

Vaccine maker Pfizer BioNTech last month told Ottawa it would be scrapping shipments to Canada this week, and would be paring back deliveries through January and February. The company was joined days later by Moderna, which said it would cut supplies to Canada and other countries by roughly 25 per cent, dealing a major blow to the Liberal government's vaccination efforts.

Merriman on Monday also criticized what he called a lack of information being provided by the Liberals on vaccines, which has in turn complicated efforts by the province to plan its inoculation campaign.

A scheduled Feb. 8 shipment of vaccines to Saskatchewan is now expected to be a third of its original size, Merriman said, causing a “challenging situation” not just in providing first doses, but in ensuring elderly people and other residents receive their second dose within recommended time periods.

“Simply put, we need more vaccines, and we need more reliable information about when we're receiving those vaccines; the flow of information is almost as important as the flow of vaccines,” he said.

“Saskatchewan is a large province with many remote communities. So we need reliable information to plan appointments, transportation, refrigeration, and the deployment of our health-care workers,” Merriman said.

His comments come as leading vaccine makers struggle to keep up with immense global demand, causing some national leaders to face intensifying public impatience. Those constraints have kicked off an increasingly ruthless race to secure doses, with the European Union signalling last week that it may impose export controls as a way to ensure supplies for the 27-member bloc.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for his part, has said supply chains remain in “good shape,” and says he has received assurances from Moderna's chief executive that the company will deliver scheduled doses next week.

But Merriman says part of the problem is transparency, and that Ottawa needs to be far more forthcoming around vaccine procurement, as a failure to do so thus far has handicapped the provinces' ability to plan longer term.

Saskatchewan has formally asked to view the federal government's contracts with Pfizer, Moderna and others to help shed light on the vaccine situation, but was denied. Information around the agreements has not been made public.

Amir Attaran, professor at University of Ottawa, said Ottawa has been “pathetically lacking” in transparency around its vaccine distribution plans. Written accounts about previous government meetings to establish so-called “vaccine passports” were never made public, he cited as one example. Ottawa ultimately decided to disregard the idea last year.

“The current government, I think, has done a terrible job on transparency efforts,” Attaran said.

As of Jan. 1, provinces and territories have administered 957,229 vaccine doses, according to data from the COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group, made up of private researchers from universities of Toronto and Guelph. A total of 111,890 people have been fully vaccinated. The federal government does not provide its own updates on vaccinations.

Saskatchewan's Merriman also cast doubts on the workability of Pfizer's proposal to re-label the number of doses per vial, raising it from five to six. Pfizer recently made a formal request to change the labelling, saying health officials will be able to draw more doses per vial with the use of a special syringe.

Merriman said his province has yet to receive one of the new syringes. The health minister claimed the change would “effectively result in a reduction of the number of vaccines the provinces are receiving,” he said.

A spokesperson for Pfizer said the special low dead space (LDS) syringes would “minimize vaccine wastage” and “provide clarity to healthcare providers” while also increasing the efficiency of distribution.

Criticism of Ottawa's distribution efforts are valid in some respects, but also unfairly downplay the immense logistical challenge Canada faces, one expert told the committee Monday. Dr. Isaac Bogoch, physician and member of Ontario's vaccination distribution task force, said the requirement that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines remain in a refrigerated state, for example, has added enormous complexities to the rollout.

“I don't think it's a fair comparison to say this is the same as influenza, or measles vaccine distribution,” he said. “There are true limitations based on the vaccines that we have, and supply chain issues.”

HAS DONE A TERRIBLE

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EFFORTS.