But their patience, even if it is not their sense of humor, becomes scarce. They say they still have no idea when they will get the important “shot in the arm” again and a shot in a normal life.
“On the one hand, you try to be reasonable, and on the other hand, you scream your head out and say … you know, ‘what’s wrong here, why are we not doing something else,’ you know? ‘Carol then said to her husband. , David, nodding in agreement from their home in Stouffville, Ontario, just outside Toronto.
The Canadian government thought it could pay to play in the global race to vaccinate its way back to normal life. But as vaccine stocks declined in February, Canada remained on the sidelines of the race, despite buying more vaccines per capita than likely any other country on earth.
Canada apparently began buying vaccines in early April in April last year, although the government says it could not convince any companies to manufacture them on Canadian soil. And finally, it was the timeline – the fact that manufacturers did not pre-empt Canada this winter for doses – that sealed the fate of millions of Canadians still waiting to get a vaccine.
“We just heard nothing about what the near future holds for us other than the fact that we could get a stock in April, and that’s a very frustrating thing for me,” David told CNN.
To date, Canadian officials say they have administered nearly 1.2 million doses, which inoculated less than 3% of the population – a fraction of the doses administered in the United States and the United Kingdom – and it is now falling behind most European countries as well.
By comparison, the US has vaccinated at least 10% of its population and the UK almost 20%. Canadians have close ties with people in both countries, and many have started hearing from friends and family who have received a vaccine or have an appointment to get it.
As a retired nurse, Carol is well aware that the new and highly transmissible variant is creeping up on the elderly, and that the need for vaccines is getting worse.
“It’s such a great thing that this pandemic and no one else has ever had to do it, and it’s just to solve problems all the time, and I realize that from a logical point of view,” Carol said. “But there’s an emotional part to it and it’s hard – it’s really hard because you recommend yourself second, you advise other people in power and say, ‘Well, they do it better there and we do not do it better. not here and why do not we get the vaccine? ”
Carol says that although they are in relatively good health, it is becoming harder to accept that there is no exact timeline for when they are going to get their vaccination.
Where are Canada’s vaccines?
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau keeps his promise: every Canadian who wants a vaccine will get it by September.
To meet the promise, Canada says it has purchased nearly 400 million doses from seven vaccine manufacturers. To date, only the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been approved for use in Canada.
While Canada says it has spent nearly a billion dollars to buy those vaccines, the country has not yet been at the forefront of receiving those vaccines.
Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have significantly delayed delivery to Canada following a combination of delays in manufacturing and demands from Europe, where Canada obtains the doses, to limit vaccine exports subject to European approval.
Canada has not attempted to purchase any vaccine doses from the US after the Trump administration indicated it was not possible to export any vaccines.
“The turmoil week after week we see is worrying and we are keeping a close eye on it and we are staying on it,” Trudeau said during a news conference last week. ‘But let me reassure people that we are still very much on track, as promised to get the six million doses by the end of March, because that’s what the CEO of the vaccine keeps telling me, and I’m glad the Canadian of this to reassure. ‘
For Canada, vaccines may be available by spring but months late to help the defenseless who are still hiding and afraid of new virus variants.
“The end result is that every delay is lost lives, and that’s the tragedy of it all,” said Jillian Kohler, a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and a consultant at the World Health Organization. “It’s not something we can just sit back and say, ‘Oh, we did not think it through,’ or ‘We did not know that vaccine production is complicated and delays do occur,’ but the reality is when we delayed (against vaccines), we have lives that are lost unnecessarily and that are unacceptable. ‘
With the few vaccines delivered, Canada has put forward long-term care centers, places where Covid-19 claimed a lethal toll.
The government has also made an impressive effort to vaccinate remote and indigenous communities where health care services are lacking. The government indicated this week that more than 90% of the adult population has been vaccinated in some northern outposts.
It may save lives, but in the short term it will not change lives for most Canadians.
Professor Kohler says that instead of “storing” vaccines, the Canadian government should have realized months ago that without any local manufacturing capability, it would belong to the manufacturers’ mercy and fierce global competition for doses.
“Having sovereignty against vaccines is crucial. The reliance on exports for critical health needs does not honestly make sense when we look at trends of nationalism,” she said.
Canada has signed a preliminary agreement with US vaccine firm Novavax to produce millions of doses of its candidate for Covid-19 vaccine at a facility in Montreal. But production will probably only start early this year.
The Greens say they read all the headlines and understand the complexity, but they will miss their granddaughter’s 8th birthday this month, and they say “it hurts.”
“Yes, yes absolutely, because I just feel like we’re really behind the hay wagon, so to speak, you know?” Carol said and added that they, just like the Christmas holiday, will be celebrating the birthday virtually.