Oxfam Canada & the One Campaign criticize the move, which is also facing growing domestic pushback.
The Liberal government talks a big game saying ‘Canada’s Back!’ and acting as if they are involved in fixing problems around the world.
But once again, we return to that old adage that ‘if you can’t help yourself, you can’t help others.’
And so it is in Canada, with the Liberal government having so severely botched the vaccine rollout that they are now desperately tapping into a vaccine fund meant for poor countries.
This move has been met with heavy criticism here at home, and now some international poverty-fighting organizations are criticizing it as well.
As reported by the CP, “Diana Sarosi, Oxfam Canada’s policy director, says it is wrong for Canada to accept COVAX vaccines because of domestic political pressure and says it will ultimately do harm in poorer countries.
“Canada should not be taking the COVAX vaccine from poor nations to alleviate political pressures at home. Receiving one or two million doses isn’t going to solve Canada’s vaccination challenges and it is going to cause harm elsewhere in the world for the poorest and most marginalized people,” Sarosi said in a statement.
“Purchasing more vaccines, when Canada has already purchased enough to vaccinate the entire population four times over, is not a viable solution.”
The Canadian Executive Director for the ONE Campaign, straight up said this made Canada look bad:
“There’s no doubt that this makes Canada look bad. What’s lost in this frenzy is the fact that COVAX is operating as it was designed, and that Canada is one of the biggest donors. Once the domestic vaccine rollout stabilizes, Canada should announce a clear strategy of how Canada will share back the extra vaccines the government secured.”
Notably, many wealth countries donated to the COVAX program, yet Canada is the only G7 nation to tap into it.
The fact that Canada is tapping into the program already shows that something has gone seriously wrong with our procurement strategy that hasn’t gone wrong in our peer nations.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
