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When the throne speech was delivered on September 23, Canada had already committed more than $ 1 billion in advance purchase agreements with five pharmaceutical companies for a minimum of 154 million doses of vaccines, provided these vaccine candidates are shown to be they are effective and safe. Two days later, Canada signed another deal with another company for 20 million more doses, hedging its bets on which of the vaccine contenders will be the first to arrive.
In doing so, Canada joins the premier league of vaccine nationalists, a handful of wealthy countries that have purchased (so far) more than half the expected short-term global supply of vaccines.
It is understandable that countries want to guarantee their ability to protect the health of their citizens. But most of the world’s population lives in countries without the same financial resources to participate in the world “me first” vaccine competition. Efforts to elevate national interests above collective global health result in slower progress and limited global ability to pool resources, while placing the interests of rich countries above others, with devastating effects.
Recent models compared two scenarios for the allocation of the first three billion doses of a vaccine that is 80% effective. The “non-cooperative” scenario, in which two billion doses go directly to high-income countries and the rest to all others, would cause 28% more deaths than a “cooperative” scenario, in which all three 1 billion doses are distributed globally, proportional to population size.
What can Canada do?
To begin with, our commitment to the World Health Organization COVAX Facility Advanced Market Engagement (AMC). It should, at the very least, match what we invest in purchasing vaccines for use in Canada. The facility manages the world’s largest and most diverse portfolio of vaccine candidates. High-income countries like Canada that join COVAX have the option to purchase approved vaccines through the facility, even if they have already entered into bilateral purchasing agreements with vaccine companies. On September 25, Canada announced it would do so, committing $ 220 million to purchase an additional 15 million doses of vaccines from the facility if approved.
Possibly more important, the facility’s AMC will provide vaccines to more than 90 eligible poor countries that cannot afford them on their own. The AMC needs to raise $ 2 billion by December to do so, with the short-term goal of immunizing three percent of the population of all COVAX countries. As of September 21, only $ 700 million had been pledged. On September 25, Canada pledged $ 220 million to AMC, in addition to the $ 25 million it had already provided. This is welcome and commendable, but also inappropriate.
The longer-term goal of the AMC is to reach 20 percent, a goal that will allow health workers and vulnerable populations in poor countries to receive vaccines, but this will depend entirely on the generosity with which income countries seniors, philanthropists and drug companies donate. to the AMC.
Much more funding is needed from AMC now and in the future. We argue that Canada should commit a dollar-for-dollar amount to AMC based on how much it spends on its own vaccine purchases. This would mean providing up to $ 1 billion more than your current AMC commitment, with funds flowing through our country’s official development assistance (ODA) endowment. Canada has global obligations under international declarations to do so.
Canada says it is a voice for equity and human rights, at home and on the world stage. Actions speak louder than words. Canada in recent years has not been particularly generous in its foreign aid. We ranked 17th out of 30 in the OECD’s club of donor nations in 2019, contributing just 0.27 percent of our gross national income, with no foreseeable increase. An immediate AMC top-up of $ 1 billion still wouldn’t bring us to our long-promised 0.7% ODA target.
A billion dollars sounds like a lot of money. But it is only a fifth of the amount the federal government has borrowed weekly since March from the Bank of Canada (which it owns) to fund its pandemic assistance programs. Most less endowed countries lack the same ability to borrow indefinitely from their own central banks and must instead turn to foreign creditors, with the associated risks of indebtedness. Or do without.
Manufacture of vaccines
According to the CEO of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, even with an expanded global capacity, it may take until 2024 before there are enough doses for the world’s population. In addition to ensuring more generous support for the COVAX facility, Canada can also increase its own vaccine manufacturing capacity. It is already on track to do so, with the government investment of $ 126 million for a new facility in Montreal. The facility’s goal is to produce two million doses of vaccines per month for home use by the summer of 2021.
Why not double this investment and reserve half of the production for AMC’s use to meet urgent global needs? This would signify for all Canadians the importance of a collective response to this pandemic.
Public health is global
As the world eagerly awaits the arrival of an effective vaccine, it is important to remember three things. First, the long-term effectiveness of any vaccine will remain uncertain for some time. Second, even if herd immunity to COVID-19 does eventually develop, there will almost certainly be another new infection in the not-too-distant future. Third, one way to cope with the risks of a future pandemic and the current shortage of the COVID-19 vaccine is to embrace the range of non-pharmaceutical interventions that can flatten and even contain infectious curves. This is especially true in those countries that are home to the half of humanity that still lacks access to essential medical care.
THE CANADIAN PRESS / Adrian Wyld
All countries need a stronger public health workforce: more nurses, testers, contact markers, and community health workers. All countries need universal health coverage, one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals that the world (including Canada) has committed to achieving by 2030. But it is the poorest half of humanity that most urgently needs it.
So if Canada and other rich countries in their vaccine nationalism continue to inadvertently displace access from poor countries, they should compensate by massively funding the investments those countries need to provide basic social protection, income support and food security. for the health of its citizens. and strengthen their health systems with public health capacity to suppress outbreaks as they arise.
It is in our own national interest to do so. As the September 23 throne speech concluded:
“We cannot eliminate this pandemic in Canada unless we end it everywhere.”
