TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2021) Canada contributed $60 million as part of $4-billion G7 commitment to boost the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) program and its COVAX facility, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office said on Friday.
"Today, Canada will provide an additional $75 million to top-up our support to the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator that develops and provides tests, treatments, and vaccines around the world - because to defeat the virus at home, we have to defeat it everywhere," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement at the conclusion of the G7 leaders meeting.
The additional funding brings Canada's contribution to the international effort to $744.85 million.
Canada's Prime Minister and his government have also been on the receiving end of domestic and international condemnation for tapping into the COVAX facility, an international vaccine distribution initiative intended to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines to developing nations. During a press briefing on Friday, Trudeau again defended the decision, saying that as contributor to the initiative, Canada is entitled to access to the available doses and availability through COVAX and that use of the facility was always part of the country's vaccine procurement strategy.
Friday's virtual closed-door meeting was the first gathering of G7 leaders since April 2020 ahead of the group�s in person summit scheduled for Cornwall, England, in June.
