Health Minister Tyler Shandro. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

Shandro calls out Ottawa’s “failure” to secure COVID vaccine supply

Jan 28, 2021 | 11:00 AM

EDMONTON, AB – Alberta’s Health Minister says the federal government has not done an adequate job to ensure that Canadians are able to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

It is the responsibility of the Government of Canada to procure supplies of vaccines. The provincial government’s duty is to distribute them appropriately to the population.

On January 15, Shandro announced that production issues at Pfizer-BioNTech’s plant in Belgium would temporarily limit supply to certain countries including Canada.

READ MORE: Production issue with Pfizer COVID vaccine to slow down Alberta schedule

It appears that things have not gotten better as expected in the days since.

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“For the third time this month, the federal government has notified us through bureaucratic channels that Alberta’s Pfizer vaccine allocation will be slashed yet again.

Originally, Shandro was told that Alberta’s share of vaccines would be reduced between 20-80 per cent over four weeks.

“Shortly after that, we found out that Alberta would actually receive no vaccines at all in the last week of January. At the same time, the federal government reassured us that we would receive the full 468,000 doses that Alberta had been promised by the end of March. The temporary reductions were to be made up for in the remainder of the first quarter.”

“This morning, we’ve been told that Alberta will receive 63,000 fewer vaccines in the first quarter of this year. This means 63,000 more Albertans will not receive this life-saving vaccine.”

As of the end of the day on Tuesday, January 26, 101,123 doses of COVID-19 had been administered in the province. Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw reported that around 11,000 Albertans had received the recommended two doses, meaning they have achieved “full immunity.”

READ MORE: AHS reports two COVID deaths in South Zone including one in Lethbridge

The health minister said in a statement Thursday that the federal government is failing Canadians.

“This is a grim situation that seems to be getting worse every week. We know that life for Canadians will not begin returning to something resembling normal until our most vulnerable are immunized.”

Although COVID-19 cases in Alberta have dropped in recent weeks, he remains concerned that this could provide Albertans with a false sense of confidence that could lead to infections rising again without the protection of vaccinations.

Shandro demanded that the prime minister, federal health minister, and procurement minister “come clean to Canadians” and fix the situation now.

“Anything less is unacceptable.”