Pallister cuts own deal for vaccines in Manitoba
MRNA inoculation being developed in Alberta
With tensions over COVID-19 vaccine access on the rise, Manitoba on Thursday became the first province to publicly break from the national procurement process in a bid to secure its own supply — announcing an agreement to buy two million doses of a vaccine under development in Calgary.
The Prairie province’s move drew concern and skepticism from federal officials, while raising the spectre for some observers of interprovincial competition for vaccine supply.
Premier Brian Pallister told reporters his government has made its own deal with Providence Therapeutics, which has begun the first phase of human testing on an mRNA vaccine candidate it hopes to eventually manufacture within the country. Pallister said he’s hoping clinical testing and federal authorization could be completed as early as the fall.
“We were forced to place our faith in Ottawa in respect of availability of vaccines. Their job is to get it to us, our job is to get it into your arm,” he said.
“But this announcement today is about making sure that, as we go forward, we’re able to do that effectively here in Canada, and not have to wait at the whims of whatever other suppliers want to do in their own country first.”
The announcement comes as Canadian vaccine supplies are strained by production issues in Europe, creating delivery delays that have upended inoculation plans coast to coast and put Canada’s vaccination rate behind that of other leading countries.
The federal government took the lead on buying COVID-19 vaccines early on, locking down agreements with seven different manufactures, including one that is being developed in Quebec. Officials said they expected to have enough doses to offer one to every Canadian who wanted one by the end of September.
But, as delays have hit both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines in recent weeks, some provincial leaders, Pallister among them, have pointed a finger at the federal government, saying it has failed to secure enough critical early shipments or to sufficiently support manufacturing here in Canada.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who has also publicly mulled buying vaccines directly for his province, told reporters Thursday he and a few other premiers had discussed an interprovincial task force on vaccine supply.
Said Pallister: “We all want the vaccine cavalry to come spiralling over the hill but, frankly, in the long term, they aren’t going to come over if they’re wearing uniforms from some other country on the other side of the ocean.”
The Progressive Conservative premier also told reporters the federal government had blocked the provinces from buying their own vaccines — “The door was slammed repeatedly in our face.”
“Let me be clear: At no point has the federal government prevented provinces from undertaking their own procurements,” Anita Anand, the federal minister in charge of vaccine procurement, said in an emailed statement.