Canada plans to share more COVID vaccines: minister
Canada has donated more than 17 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to countries less well-off and will likely have more to give still, the federal minister responsible for procuring this country’s vaccine supply said Monday during a stop in Niagara.
More than 56 million doses have been delivered to Canada this year “and prior to the end of July we will have in the country enough doses for all eligible Canadians to have two shots,” said Anita Anand, minister of public works and procurement.
She toured Niagara Health’s vaccination clinic at Seymour-hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre in St. Catharines, with a federal election widely expected to be called soon.
Anand, with fellow Liberal MPS Chris Bittle of St. Catharines and Vance Badawey of Niagara Centre, also stopped at Heddle Shipyards in St. Catharines.
“We will have enough vaccines for all Canadians, and what we don’t need we will certainly be donating,” she said.
“We’ve already donated 17.7 million doses of Astrazeneca” vaccine as well as $500 million for COVAX, the global initiative formed to ensure fair access to vaccines for poorer countries that otherwise couldn’t afford to provide them.
After speaking with Niagara Health president Lynn Guerriero, as well as clinic staff and volunteers, Anand called its operation “so impressive.”
“The efficiency and efficacy of the organization in this arena is astounding.”
In particular, she said, the thousands of multicoloured sticky notes that cover glass around the arena floor were “incredibly moving.”
The notes — many containing emotional words of gratitude or relief — were written by people there to be vaccinated.
“I am spending most of my days negotiating with suppliers for the delivery of vaccines into Canada, so I don’t see sticky notes with incredible sentiments of gratitude on them like these,” she said.
Guerriero said “it’s a big job” to keep the clinic operating daily since January, adding it takes 75 to 85 staff and volunteers every day.
“We have tons of Niagara Region partners and volunteers where people are vaccinating for us — primary care physicians, our partners in EMS … if not for those partnerships, we would not be able to run this clinic,” she said.
Niagara Health’s head of infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness lead, Dr. Karim Ali, said he thanked Anand for Canada’s efforts to share vaccines.
Ali’s family lives in Pakistan, which was hard hit by COVID-19 and doesn’t have access to vaccines like Canada does.
“It’s rough there,” he said. “In many lower- or middle-income countries, physical distancing and self-isolation — that’s a privilege,” he said.
Sharing vaccines, “that’s a very Canadian thing to do.”