On May 19, 2021, the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas (CPAM) received a briefing from the Honourable Karina Gould, P.C., M.P., Minister of International Development, and officials from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) on the topic of the COVAX Initiative. The GAC officials were Joshua Tabah, Director General, Global Issues and Development, Health and Nutrition, and Karen Mollica, Director, Central America and Caribbean, Strategic Planning, Operations and Policy Division.
Attending the briefing from the Senate were the Honourable Senators Robert Black, René Cormier, Julie Miville-Dechêne, and Mobina S. B. Jaffer. Participating from the House of Commons were Marc G. Serré M.P., Chair of CPAM, Richard Cannings, M.P., Julie Dzerowicz, M.P., Vice-Chair of CPAM, John McKay, M.P. and Patrick Weiler, M.P.
Minister Gould spoke about the Government of Canada’s support to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT Accelerator) since its establishment in April 2020. She indicated that the ACT Accelerator works to develop vaccines, tests and treatments for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, and to distribute these tools fairly around the world; the section of the ACT Accelerator dedicated to vaccine distribution is known as “COVAX.”
According to Minister Gould, along with the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, Canada is one of the leading donors to the COVAX Initiative. She added that Canada will consider directing excess vaccine doses that it may acquire to the ACT Accelerator in the future but only after Canada is due to receive more vaccine doses than it can use, and the country is “not there yet.”
Minister Gould also noted that, in addition to the Government of Canada’s contributions to COVAX, Canada has provided Latin American countries with more than $10 million during the COVID-19 pandemic through various organizations, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), with this funding aimed at providing personal protective equipment.
GAC officials provided responses to the questions posed by participants. In describing the current status of the COVAX Initiative, Mr. Tabah noted that 12 million World Health Organization–approved vaccine doses have been delivered to more than 100 countries. He underscored that those countries include 31 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, which have a shortage of doses, and commented that some of those countries lack “vaccine confidence,” with some groups and individuals spreading information about the vaccines that is misleading or inaccurate.
As well, Mr. Tabah mentioned that one of COVAX’s primary goals is to help end the pandemic’s acute phase by providing every country in the world with fair and equitable access to vaccine doses. He indicated that, because of the complex and thorough process by which doses are allocated, countries are generally confident about the fairness of the process. According to him, COVAX aims to deliver 2 billion doses through the initiative, with all participating countries receiving enough doses to vaccinate 20% of their populations in 2021; the primary focus is health care workers and those most vulnerable to the illness, such as the elderly. He explained that when countries commit to redirect surplus vaccine doses to COVAX, significant advance notice is very helpful because of legal and logistical complexities; for example, once insurance-related and other documents are completed, the vaccine doses must be transported directly from the production facility to the destination country to ensure their security.