Sunday November 15, 2020 | NATIONAL
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
The federal Liberal government’s approach to vaccine negotiations was challenged on Friday November 13 by the opposition NDP.
How and when Canada gets vaccines of various type is critical to health and economic recovery. The NDP says they will press for transparency for Canadians and timely access to the best COVID-19 vaccines possible.
“The Trudeau government fought tooth and nail to avoid disclosing any vaccine contracts to Parliament, saying it threatened commercial interests,” said Matthew Green, NDP critic for National Revenue, Public Services and Procurement.
Green says that the Brazilian government “had no problem disclosing virtually the entire vaccine contract” that they signed with AstraZeneca.
“Radio-Canada has reported that Canada may receive a Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine months after the US and UK. People want to know what’s going on with the vaccine,” said Green in a release.
“Brazil successfully negotiated the right to domestically produce any vaccine that AstraZeneca may develop,” says Don Davies, NDP critic for Health. Davies says that’s something the Canadian federal government “failed to do” in it negotiation with the same company.
“Having the right to produce a vaccine is a great way for a country to ensure all of its citizens get timely access to a vaccine,” said Davies. He says that countries which have secured that right from AstraZeneca include Australia, Brazil, Japan, India and China.
The Public Services and Procurement minister for the Canadian federal government is Anita Anand, who took over the post on November 20, 2019 from Carla Qualtrough (who moved into the role of Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion).
Canada’s vaccine deals & distribution policy:
On September 25 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced six vaccine deals for supplying Canadians with COVID-19 vaccines, and again on October 23 announced other vaccine research and production contracts that are based in Canada, including one in Quebec and one in BC.
Vaccine distribution will be prioritized for health-care workers and those who are known to be vulnerable (such as seniors and immuno-compromised people), said Trudeau, repeating what public health has been saying for months. Likely also military, politicians and educators as well as front-line essential workers will get priority for receiving the first round of COVID-19 vaccines.