THUNDER BAY – The federal health minister says countries around the world are scrambling to acquire COVID-19 vaccinations.
Canada is not alone in this regard.
But while criticism has rained down on the country over the past week surrounding Canada’s vaccine procurement, Liberal Patty Hadju on Thursday said the nation’s vaccination numbers are rapidly rising among G20 countries.
According to the New York Times, Canada is 18th in the world, with 22 per cent of its population having at least one dose, which is sixth in the world when counting countries with more than five million people.
Canada is also in the top 20 in the world in total doses administered, having given out 9.1 million. The United States, which produces its own vaccines, tops all nations at 194 million and counting.
According to the federal government, more than 12.7 million vaccines have been distributed, including 7.5 million of the Pfizer/BiNtech, 2.8 million of the Moderna and 2.3 million of the AstraZeneca brand.
Among G20, only the United Kingdom and the United States have vaccinated higher percentage of their populations, though Canada falls well down the list when fully vaccinated people are counted, coming in at just 2.3 per cent.
Days after both the Wall Street Journal and CNN were critical of Canada’s vaccine roll-out and procurement, Hajdu said Canada is rapidly rising in the G20 – and continuing to climb.
“Every country around the world right now is fighting for doses. Every country around the world is having its own very heated conversations about who should go first and how it should prioritize people,” Hajdu said in a Zoom interview with Dougall Media reporters.
“All of that is an indication of a global sparsity of vaccines.”
Unlike the U.S. and U.K., Canada has no domestic vaccine production, and still faces supply issues, with some of its producers, most notably Moderna.
Looking at her home community, Hajdu said she’s pleased at how well the district has done getting vaccines into arms.
Thunder Bay, as of last Saturday, had vaccinated nearly 30 per cent of those eligible for the vaccine, and the active, confirmed case count has dropped to its lowest level since early January, standing at 61 on Thursday.
It wasn’t that long ago the region had one of the highest per-capita case count in Ontario.
“I have to really congratulate the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and all of the partners that are working to vaccinate Northwestern Ontario,” she said.
“It’s been an all-hands-on-deck effort.”
The health minister said the federal government continues to work to secure even more vaccine doses, and said they are also working closely with the United States in an effort to see if Canada’s neighbour to the south can provide more doses. The U.S. recently loaned Canada 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and has paused use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, after concerns of blood clots in a handful of recipients arose.
The pause could provide an opportunity for Canada to secure even more doses, the country having reaffirmed its belief the vaccine is safe to use.
Hajdu said all vaccines approved for use in Canada are deemed to be safe, and are a key to ending the pandemic, among other public health measures.
“You are far more at risk of getting sick and dying of COVID than you are of having an adverse effect from any of these vaccines,” she said. “We continually monitor these adverse outcomes – not just here in Canada, but around the world. Our surveillance system is extremely sophisticated.”
