(Trinidad Guardian) Canada’s Minister of International Development Karina Gould, yesterday announced that the Government of Canada will share over 82,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Trinidad and Tobago via a bilateral agreement.
These are doses that had already arrived in Canada, but are in excess of our domestic needs.
Gould explained that Trinidad and Tobago was selected to receive these doses based on need and the country’s capacity to deploy them immediately, minimizing wastage, and maximizing the public health impact.
She said the excess doses will be delivered to T&T in the coming days, and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago will manage the administration of the vaccines in accordance with manufacturing guidelines and public health best practices.
Gould said vaccinating the world against COVID-19 is our best chance of ending the acute phase of the pandemic, because no one is safe until we are all safe and Canada is committed to doing its part to support equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines around the world, including supporting our regional partners in the Caribbean that have felt the impacts of the pandemic acutely.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau announced at the G7 Summit on June 13, 2021, Canada’s $1.3 billion contribution to the ACT Accelerator, as part of the $2.5 billion that it has contributed to the global fight against the virus, is helping to provide 87 million vaccine doses to developing countries.
The Prime Minister also announced an initial commitment to share 13 million doses via COVAX. On July 12, 2021, Canada announced that it would be sharing an additional 17.7 million doses. These doses, distributed via the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), will help accelerate deliveries to low and lower middle-income countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, while also helping priority countries in other regions.
Canada will also continue to prioritize the delivery of any potential excess doses through the COVAX AMC, as well as exploring other dose sharing options, as needed, to ensure vaccines get to those in need.
Canada is also matching, dollar for dollar, donations made by individual Canadians to UNICEF Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination fundraising campaign, up to a maximum of $10 million.
