TORONTO (AP) – The leader of Canada’s most populous province said on Thursday that he does not believe Pfizer’s explanation of why the company postponed coronavirus vaccine deliveries to Canada next week.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said it is unacceptable that other countries are receiving doses and Canada is not.
“This falls entirely on Pfizer for letting us down,” said Ford, who spoke with the chief executive of Pfizer’s Canadian division on Tuesday.
Pfizer announced a temporary reduction in deliveries last Friday so it could expand its factory in Puurs, Belgium, which supplies all shots delivered outside the United States. Pfizer said that any small setback now in deliveries would result in a big leap forward at the end of the year.
“I don’t buy any of that crap,” said Ford. “In short, get us vaccines. I don’t care what you’re building, you can make any excuse you want for me, I don’t believe it. We made an order, we have a contract, we fulfill the obligations of the contract because lives are at risk if you continue to ruin everything ”.
Ford was criticized for a slow release of the vaccine in Ontario amid a second wave of infections. He noted that they had to close a mass vaccination clinic in Toronto.
Pfizer spokesman Keanna Ghazvini declined to comment on Ford’s specific comments, but said he heard Ford’s concerns earlier this week.
“We recognize that it has made it more difficult for the immunization program to move smoothly across Ontario and across Canada. We reiterate that this is a short-term situation and our focus is on meeting quarterly commitments, ”said Ghazvini in a statement.
Governments in Europe also say that Pfizer’s delay is costing critical time during the early stages of deployment for nursing homes and hospital staff.
The delay, which the U.S. pharmaceutical giant said would last for a few weeks, affects not only the number of people who can be vaccinated during that period, but also takes away the careful choreography that governments have mapped out to provide elderly residents and caregivers with both. doses within a restricted schedule of several weeks.
The EU now expects Pfizer to deliver across the 27-country bloc 92% of what was expected this week and next. The missing 8% is expected to be recovered during the week of February 15. Major-General Dany Fortin, who is leading Canada’s logistical implementation and distribution of vaccines, said that Pfizer has postponed next week’s deliveries entirely to Canada and that there will be a 50% supply of vaccines until mid-February.
“Every day we lose is a day we lose in war and it is a death,” said Ford.
Ford also repeated an appeal to US President Joe Biden to share some of the Pfizer shots made at its facilities near Kalamazoo, Michigan.
“We appreciate any support from the new president, President Biden, we need your support. You have millions of doses in six hours. Your number 1 ally in the world needs your help now and we need you to step forward, ”said Ford.
The US federal government has an agreement with Pfizer under which the first 100 million doses of the vaccine produced in the US will be owned by the US government and will be distributed in the US
Canadian federal procurement minister Anita Anand said that all doses that are emerging from the Michigan plant are for distribution in the United States.
A senior Canadian official said that if after these 100 million doses are delivered to the United States, the Canadian government will put a lot of pressure on ensuring that doses are delivered as quickly as possible from wherever they are taken. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Canada’s current contract specifies that Canada doses will come from the Puurs facility.