In December, before COVID-19 variants changed the course of the pandemic, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau boasted that enough potential vaccines had been procured to protect a population four times the size of Canada. But four months later, not even two percent of the Canadian population, just under 38 million, is fully vaccinated and large areas of the country are closed again thanks to a brutal third wave.
Canada has recorded nearly one million cases and 23,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Trudeau hoped to vaccinate the population in June, but now says all Canadians who want a vaccine will be vaccinated by the end of September. Canada is one of the only major economies in the world that did not attempt to manufacture its own coronavirus vaccine.
Meanwhile, the variants are taken advantage of.
On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a strong warning that even fully vaccinated Americans should avoid traveling to Canada. And if they go for essential purposes, they should be tried three or five days after the return. “This is not the news any of us wanted, but hospitalizations are on the rise, ICU beds are filling up, variants are spreading and even people who were convinced they didn’t need to worry they get sick, ”Trudeau told a news conference Tuesday. “Even if the sun shines and the weather gets warmer, COVID-19 is not over with us yet,” he said, calling the third wave of the pandemic “very serious”.
Even more worrying is that most of the new cases seen in the hospital’s intensive care units are increasingly younger patients, according to Canada’s top health expert. “While COVID-19 continues to impact people of all ages in Canada, infection rates are highest among those aged 20 to 39,” Theresa Tam, Canada’s head of public health, said in a statement on Wednesday. . “In addition, we are seeing an increase in the number of adults, under the age of 60, who are being treated for COVID-19 in the hospital, including intensive care units.”
So how can a country that had ordered more vaccines per capita than anywhere else in the world be in such trouble? Canada does not produce any vaccine in its territory, either by creating its own or manufacturing others, and the imported doses have simply not been administered. The Canadian government-owned vaccine manufacturer was privatized in the 1980s and eventually bought by the French company Sanofi, whose vaccination efforts faltered.
Trudeau announced last week that Pfizer will finally begin delivering one million doses a week after the U.S. releases exports now that it is clear there is enough supply for Americans. AstraZeneca has also pledged to deliver 20 million of its increasingly controversial vaccine, which should also help start the painfully slow deployment. Modern, Johnson and Johnson are also approved for use in Canada, but have not yet been delivered in any considerable amount.
Trudeau has been attacked by angry Canadians after he soon admitted that the country would not be the first in line for any vaccine because they did not produce it locally. Then, when the EU put force on vaccine exports, Canada again paid the price of lost deliveries. The Biden administration has not yet committed to exporting to Canada or Mexico, both in short supply.