Trudeau Says Received Assurances EU Measures Will Not Affect Vaccine Deliveries To Canada

TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2021) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told parliamentarians he received assurances from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the bloc's transparency measures would not affect COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to Canada.

On Monday, European Commissioner for Health and food Safety Stella Kyriakides said the European Union wants pharmaceutical companies that produce coronavirus vaccines on its territory to provide full information regarding their export to third countries, adding she intends to require manufacturers to notify the bloc on any export plans.

"An hour ago, I spoke to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, to raise our concerns... I was reassured to hear that the transparency measures taken by Europe will not affect Pfizer and Moderna deliveries to Canada," Trudeau said during Wednesday's session of Question Period.

The Prime Minister has received blowback for not taking charge amid a crippling vaccine supply shortage across Canada that intensified after it was revealed the country will not receive any new shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine this week as Pfizer restructures its production facility in Europe.

To date, 887,236 vaccine doses have been administered in Canada - a number far below other nations, including Israel, China, India and the United States.

Meanwhile, the European Union is also growing increasingly frustrated over delayed vaccine deliveries by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the UK AstroZeneca and is calling on all of the vaccine developers to "honor their obligations" set out in the contracts.

Canada receives its vaccine supplies from Pfizer's European production facility after former US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to prioritize domestic distribution of vaccines over their shipments to foreign countries.

Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin, Canada's vaccine distribution czar, has previously conceded that the country will likely experience a shortage of vaccine doses through to the end of the first quarter of 2021.