Canada is one of the few wealthy countries thus far to exercise an option to bolster its vaccine supply by accessing COVAX, a global pool created to help supply poorer countries who cannot afford to procure their own vaccines.
Canada’s procurement minister, Anita Anand, told The Canadian Press that up to 1.9 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine could arrive through Gavi’s COVAX Facility by the end of March and up to 3.2 million total by the end of June, pending Health Canada’s approval of that vaccine. Although a COVAX published a list on Wednesday that says Canada was allocated 1.9 million doses by the end of June, with no mention at all that it could go up to 3.2 million.
Canada and other developed countries have been criticized for using their wealth and influence to snap up a majority of vaccines for themselves. COVAX was supposed to prevent that, and International Development Minister Karina Gould said Wednesday that Canada continues to support that goal, and that Ottawa was only drawing from the COVAX supply of doses available to donor countries.
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