TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th February, 2021) Canada drawing on coronavirus vaccine supplies through the COVAX facility is immoral, despite this being a legally viable option, Green Party Leader Annamie Paul said on Friday.
On Thursday, Canada's Procurement Minister Anita Anand said that the British biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca could begin delivering coronavirus vaccines to Canada before the end of March through the COVAX facility - an co-led by the World Health Organization, the Gavi vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations - if regulatory approval is granted.
"There is a very big difference between having a right and doing what's right. In the case of COVAX and drawing down vaccines from it, we have the right to draw down those vaccines... but it's not the right thing to do," Paul said during a virtual press briefing.
Paul explained that the COVAX facility is intended to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines to developing nations unable to procure vaccines on the open market. Canada is the only G7 nation that has announced its intention to draw from the COVAX facility.
Responding to the criticism, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada, as contributor to the initiative, is entitled to access available doses and availability through COVAX was always part of the country's vaccine procurement strategy.
Canada will receive 1.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine before June, Trudeau said.
Canada is in the midst of a vaccine shortage that worsened after producer Pfizer halted delivery to the country last week and following an announcement that another producer, Moderna, will deliver 50,000 less vaccine doses this week. The Trudeau government has received the brunt of the criticism for the lackluster vaccine rollout that the opposition has condemned as a failure.
According to the government's vaccine distribution czar, Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin, Canada will likely experience a shortage of vaccine doses through to the end of the first quarter of 2021.
