Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently said Canadians won’t be getting the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as people in other countries will.
“This is concerning news,” MP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock Jamie Schamle told 93.5 Moose FM morning show host Rick Lowes. He said he read an article in McLeans in August by University Professor Amir Attaran. “He was talking about how the vaccine endgame is going to be bungled because the government is not taking it as seriously as they should,” he summarized. “The article lays out how Canada will not be one of the first countries to secure the vaccine.”
Trudeau said earlier this week that Canada does not have any domestic production capacity for vaccines. “Having said that, Mexico doesn’t have that and they will have the vaccine before Canada,” Schmale said. He told Lowes it’s “concerning” Canada won’t be near the front of the line.
With lockdowns being put in place – and already in place – in some parts of the country, Schmale said many small businesses can’t take much more of this. “The big box stores are again allowed to stay open and provide many of the same services,” he said. While big box stores can move their services online, most smaller shops can’t.
He again criticized Health Canada for “bungling” bringing rapid testing to the country. He said rapid testing is being used in many places outside of Canada. “Health Canada is sitting on their hands,” he said. “We have a vaccine Canadians won’t have first access to and now continued bungling by Health Canada approving rapid testing.”
“How much more of this are we going to take,” Schmale asked.