Mark Machin, head of Canada’s largest pension fund, received a vaccine against Covid-19 in the Middle East, according to people familiar with the issue, ahead of millions of Canadians waiting for one of the slowest launches in the Western world .
The 54-year-old executive director of the Investment Board of the Canada Pension Plan ($ 379 billion) arrived in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month with his partner and received the first dose of a vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc.
and the German BioNTech SE,
according to the people who know the subject. Some of these people said they told contacts they used local connections to get the vaccines and that they have stayed in the UAE and will receive their second dose in the coming weeks, they said.
Mr. Machin made no comment when contacted by phone and email. The CPPIB spokesman and Mr Machin said he had “deeply personal” reasons for traveling to the UAE “I can assure you that no influence was applied or attempted to be applied” to get the vaccine, said the spokesman. .
The CPPIB is a crown corporation, that is, it is governed independently of the federal government, but it is the administrator of the pension obligations that are bound by the government. It is reported to a board of directors, which is selected by the Minister of Finance of Canada.
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Ministry of Finance said that “although the CPPIB is an independent organization, this is very worrying. The federal government has made it clear to Canadians that now is not the time to travel abroad. They didn’t make us aware of this trip. “
There is no evidence that Mr Machin, a British citizen, violated any law to guarantee his dose. The Canadian government has urged residents to avoid traveling abroad, but has not banned it. Meanwhile, the UAE has said it distributes vaccines to residents, a designation that foreigners can obtain through activities such as investing, buying property or setting up a local business. There is no evidence that Mr. Machin is a resident.
The United Arab Emirates has made exceptions to its residency requirements. In January, the UAE-sponsored cycling team that won the 2020 Tour de France (a group of about 60 cyclists and mostly non-resident staff) received doses of a Chinese-made vaccine in Abu Dhabi.
The United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven emirates that includes the Dubai Mall, has surpassed almost every country in the world with an ambitious vaccination campaign led by its rapid embrace of the Chinese-made vaccine. Since December, the shot has been readily available and free for any resident or adult citizen. The country also offers the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which in clinical trials has been shown to be more effective, but has been scarcer. It has been reserved mainly for people over 60 or with chronic illnesses in the UAE
As head of the CPPIB, Mr. Machin is responsible for overseeing the retirement money of nearly 20 million Canadians who contribute to the country’s public pension plan. CPPIB is one of the largest pension funds in the world, with influence in foreign markets and companies worldwide.
The Canadian fund in March 2020 had stakes in several UAE companies, including Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank companies PJSC and Emirates Telecommunications Group Co. PJSC, according to the fund’s annual disclosures on foreign shares. Last year the fund invested in the $ 5.4 billion stock debut of Kuaishou Technology, a Chinese video streaming company, along with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a large sovereign wealth fund in the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Machin’s vaccination, which had not been previously reported, occurs amid outrage in other parts of the world in cases where rich or well-connected people have been able to skip the vaccine line. Most of the world is carefully measuring doses to prioritize the most vulnerable or those at the forefront of fighting the pandemic.
In Peru, dozens of government consultants, pressure groups, cabinet ministers and people related to them, and the former president and his family, secretly received vaccines last year, prompting a scandal now called the Porta de the Vaccine. Last month, Florida restricted vaccines to those who could prove their residency. Officials there offered the shot to anyone over the age of 65, but worried that the state would become a raffle for vaccine tourism. Many Canadians, in particular, have been looking to rent planes for quick round trips to Florida to get vaccines.
Vaccines are particularly scarce in Canada. The country’s federal government has faced criticism for its slow vaccination rate, which lags behind rates in the US, the UK and most major European nations. About 4% of the Canadian population has received at least one dose, compared to 20% in the US, according to a Oxford University tracker.
In the midst of the pandemic, the travels of high-profile officials and business leaders have been closely scrutinized. Ontario’s finance minister resigned in December after a holiday abroad amid federal and provincial anti-travel advice.
The warnings do not prohibit officials from traveling, but Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford has said the resignation shows that “our government is taking our obligation to stay at a higher level seriously.” Linda Hasenfratz, chief executive of auto parts maker Linamar Corp., resigned last month from an Ontario government task force on distributing Covid-19 vaccines after traveling abroad. Ms Hasenfratz said in a statement that she regretted her decision to travel.
The CPPIB spokesman said employee travel has been halted almost completely as a result of the pandemic, but there are still some business and personal trips taking place, noting that the fund has assets abroad.
Former investment banker of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for two decades, Mr. Machin has been the top executive of the Toronto-based pension fund since June 2016. He previously oversaw its international operations. Prior to his financial career, he qualified as a doctor in the UK after studying medicine at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Write to Jenny Strasburg at [email protected], Summer Said at [email protected] and Jacquie McNish at [email protected]
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