The federal government’s central COVID-19 vaccine inventory has far exceeded its target of four million doses in recent months — at times holding more than triple that amount, according to a CBC analysis.
Global vaccine equity advocates say the figures show that Canada was keeping extra doses in reserve at a time when the demand for booster shots wasn’t yet there and while several lower-income countries struggled to get vaccines.
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As Canada’s vaccination drive kicked into gear over the summer, the federal government said it would maintain a reserve of about four million shots for Canadians to access, and any inventory flagged as excess would be donated to other countries.
But an analysis of the federal government’s online archives using the Wayback Machine shows that central vaccine inventory data hasn’t dipped toward the four-million-dose mark since that pledge was made by then Procurement Minister Anita Anand on Aug. 12.
At its lowest, the reserve was at 6.5 million doses around mid-November. At its highest, it was at more than 13 million doses, according to federal data.
As of Thursday, the federal reserve sat at around 6.5 million doses.
The federal reserve figures do not include any excess vaccines in provincial or territorial reserves. There are currently 16 million doses in the federal and provincial reserves combined, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Wednesday.
The figures highlight that Canada “absolutely could be doing a lot more” to follow through on its pledge to support the developing world, said Adam Houston, medical policy and advocacy officer for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières.
“It’s been very troubling at a time of a very serious global vaccine inequity,” said Houston. “I think it also underscores the fact that Canada did take more than it needed.”
As the Omicron variant spreads throughout Canada and the world, numerous Canadian doctors and advocates have said that getting the world vaccinated is key to stopping further spread and mutation of the coronavirus.
With booster shots now rolling out to more Canadians, Houston and other advocates say the federal government needs to be more transparent moving forward about its plans for excess doses and donations to lower-income countries.
Central vaccine inventory
In announcing a donation of 10 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine to low and middle-income countries last August, Anand pledged that the federal government would continue to support the developing world.
“Going forward, our government will maintain a reserve of vaccines of approximately four million doses that will be managed by Minister [Patty] Hajdu and the [Public Health Agency of Canada], in co-ordination with the provinces and territories,” she said.
“The purpose of the reserve is to ensure that vaccines are on hand for Canadians when they are needed while, at the same time, ensuring that doses are available for other countries.”
Canadian doses identified as surplus, she said, would be donated to international partners “on an ongoing basis as negotiated and facilitated” by then-International Development Minister Karina Gould.
WATCH | Federal government promises vaccine reserve cap:
Federal government promises vaccine reserve cap
6 hours ago
Duration 1:38
Former Procurement Minister Anita Anand on Aug. 12 said Canada will maintain a reserve of about four million vaccines for Canadians to access as needed, and said the rest will be used in other countries. 1:38
Having some extra doses on hand is reasonable, considering vaccine deliveries and demand don’t always match perfectly, said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases physician at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and an associate professor at McMaster University.
“But at the same time, having that big of a reserve is a problem,” he said. “Not only a problem with the context of eight million doses in the federal reserve, and likely more in provincial reserves. There’s a problem that those doses now have to be administered on our soil.”
World Health Organization and UNICEF officials have said some countries are receiving excess vaccines from wealthier countries that are about to expire, making it difficult to distribute them.
“It grew and it kept growing, even after vaccine campaigns slowed down,” Chagla said of the federal reserve.
Officials posed next to Canada’s first donated doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which arrived in three countries in Africa on Sept. 2, 2021. The doses were part of a Canadian pledge to COVAX. (Gavi)
Canada’s pledges
Throughout the pandemic, Canada has provided vaccines and financial support to other countries through global efforts like the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative, which pools funds from wealthier countries to buy vaccines for those countries and to ensure low and middle-income countries also have access.
As of Thursday, Canada has donated more than 9.2 million surplus vaccine doses through COVAX. Canada has also shared 762,080 doses of AstraZeneca through bilateral arrangements with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“One of the big concerns about donation is that Canada has not shared a lot of doses,” said Houston.
“When you think about the fact that, much of this time, we’ve had more than 10 million doses in the central vaccine inventory alone, that really raises a lot of questions about Canada’s ability to do more.”
As of Thursday, Canada has donated over 9.2 million surplus vaccine doses through COVAX. (Rogelio V. Solis/The Associated Press)
In a statement, a Health Canada spokesperson said that when vaccine supply is “deemed surplus to domestic needs, the Government of Canada works to donate these doses.”
The statement went on to say the federal government has worked with provinces and territories to make sure “sufficient supply” is available for vaccination campaigns across the country.
“The Government of Canada also holds doses on behalf of provinces and territories that have already been allocated for domestic use, including supply to support booster campaigns,” the statement said.
Public Services and Procurement Canada deferred comment to Health Canada.
Need for transparency
Vaccine equity advocates say Canada needs to be more transparent about what it is doing with its excess doses moving forward, as at least a million doses have already expired here.
“We do not need to have the kind of stockpiles of six to 10 million doses more than we need. There’s just a huge risk there — that’s a risk of expiry,” said Julia Anderson, CEO of the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health, a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization that aims to enhance Canada’s global impact and reputation.
“Canadians need vaccines to get into arms. And that’s both to get into Canadian arms but, really, the race now is to get it into arms around the world if you don’t want another Omicron that is much more deadly.”
In particular, details like timelines are needed on some of Canada’s pledges, advocates say.
“I actually want them to have a mandate, a timeline and a plan to make sure that as vaccines are in excess, that they’re actually going to be given globally,” said Ananya Tina Banerjee, an assistant professor at McGill University’s School of Population and Global Health and at University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
“There needs to be a zero-excuses approach to solving this global challenge if Canadians want their lives back,” said Anderson.
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Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
