01-27-2021, 11:39 AM
(01-27-2021, 11:30 AM)jeffster Wrote: We're getting more info as to why Canada is lagging behind all of the other countries when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccine.
https://ipolitics.ca/2021/01/26/days-aft...-shipment/
In a nutshell, Canada basically had a deal with China to test and use one of their vaccines. This agreement was made in May. China, and I will say, profoundly blocked this (after all, we are holding one of their nationals on behalf on the US government).
3 months after this, is when Canada made agreements with other deals with Pfizer and Moderna.
How the Trudeau government could have been so stupid to make deals with the Chinese first, is almost beyond belief. And why take a chance with an American or European company first wasn't considered. I get that you should take a chance with the first available vaccine, which I guess at that time may have been the Chinese vaccine, but in this case you're not dealing with a friendly.
And as it stands, sadly Trudeau doesn't have a lot of friends, either in the USA or Europe, so we're going to be in this a lot longer than we should have been. So whatever the case, Germany (basically the lead in the European Union) will be blocking vaccine deliveries to Canada, and President Biden has zero interest in helping Canada out (oddly enough, had Trump won, we'd probably get some vaccine from the USA). It seems in this case, the EU and USA made agreements with Pfizer and Moderna before Canada did, hence why we're back of the line.
It's quite clear why we shouldn't make a deal with the US, up until a week ago, it was an unstable regime teetering on the brink of civil unrest. Not a place to put your eggs. The only reason we'd get vaccine from Trump if Trump thought he could make a buck, and because he had no plans to distribute it to the population.
China isn't my first choice, but the EU also clearly has protectionist aspects. Ultimately, we should have planned local production capability, along with a licensing scheme. There should have been global plans for licensing the first few vaccines which were proven viable for production everywhere with compatible equipment.
But the suggestion that we are back of the line is also absurd...it's conservative party rhetoric...we aren't first in line, but there are many other countries we are doing better than.
A bigger question I have is why we are still holding this foreign national for the US. They should either be sent to the US, or to China, we shouldn't be acting as jailor for the US, not under Biden, and certainly not under Trump. This whole thing is bizarre, and been going on far far too long.