Procurement minister tells MPs Canada’s COVID vaccines won’t be hit by Europe’s export bans

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OTTAWA — Procurement Minister Anita Anand assured MPs that despite growing reports of export restrictions in Europe Canada’s vaccine supply will not be hit and shots will continue to flow to provinces.

The European Union introduced legislation this week that would allow it to constrict exports of vaccines outside of the trading Bloc, and there were several reports India is also considering preventing vaccines from leaving its shores.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which make up the bulk of Canada’s current vaccine rollout, are manufactured in Europe.

Canada is expecting a further 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India in the next two months. An additional 1.5 million doses are due from the United States in the next few weeks under a separate deal.

Conservative MP Kelly McCauley challenged Anand to be clear about whether the restrictions would hinder Canada’s rollout.

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“Canadians deserve to know, the provinces deserve to know, how will that six weeks emergency restrictions affect us and our numbers,” he said.

Anand said she is confident that Europe is not targeting Canada with these restrictions and the government is working hard to ensure vaccines arrive.

“Our diplomacy has continued to serve Canadians well as we continue to get vaccines out of Europe,” she said. “We can assure Canadians that our vaccines will continue to arrive on schedule, that is the assurance we’re receiving from our consulates and our ambassadors in Europe.”

She said she had spoken directly to India’s High Commissioner to Canada Wednesday and had been assured there will be no issue with the vaccine deliveries.

Anand was also challenged by Conservative MP Rachel Harder, who demanded to know if the vaccine effort was going so well, why Canada was so far behind the rest of the world in getting its citizens vaccinated.

According to several rankings, Canada is lagging behind the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as several European nations in vaccine efforts.

Anand said the vaccine effort will be a long one and she believes it is too early to determine which countries handled the effort the best.

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“We’re at the very beginning of a very long vaccination campaign, and we cannot make decisions about winners in this race this early.”

Anand highlighted the government’s efforts so far, which have brought in more vaccines than initially estimated. The government originally said it would have six million doses by the end of this month, but now expects 9.5 million.

She said that was part of hard work negotiating with companies that she plans to continue.

“We will not stop negotiating aggressively to continue to see doses arriving in Canada,” she said. “It is the most important thing I have done in my professional life and I will not rest until it is done.”

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