Page 41 - April-May 2020 Neat

COVID-19 Vaccine Could Take Months
Why a COVID-19 vaccine
could take much longer
than 12 to 18 months
Continued from Page 40
WHO WOULD GET THE VACCINE
FIRST?
The ethics of how a vaccine would be produced
and distributed around the world bring up
several ethical concerns.
Many experts have called for a global access
agreement to be developed in order to guarantee
that vulnerable populations, including the
elderly, health-care workers, and people in
resource-poor epicenters, have priority access to
the vaccine.
This model has proved effective with past
vaccines, including the Ebola vaccination that
was developed in Canada, shared with
researchers and biotech companies in the U.S.
and later manufactured in Germany.
Thompson notes that governments will be
largely responsible for deciding which segments
of the population should receive the vaccine
first.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said
Canada is already preparing production capacity
for a vaccine, but would not speculate on who
would receive a vaccine.
“We already know that countries around the
world will be producing for their own citizens
first, and we need to be part of that as well,” he
said.
“In terms of what kinds of vaccination protocols
will be in place, we still have a fair bit of time to
reflect on that in order to get it right.”
Reports that the U.S. allegedly attempted to buy
exclusive rights to vaccine research being
carried out by a German firm have also
highlighted important ethics surrounding access
to a vaccine.
“We really need to have the conversation about
nationalism and protecting your own citizens
first -- is that the most ethical response here,
when there may be certain populations in the
world that are really, really suffering the most,”
she said.
“What are our international obligations to global
health? It is a big question here.” []
THANK YOU
TO ALL
FIRST RESPONDERS
AND
ESSENTIAL WORKERS
FOR ALL YOU DO
DURING THE
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
OF 2020
Two cargo planes return
empty to Canada from
China without medical
supplies
by Steven Chase
Two cargo planes chartered by Canadian
governments to procure medical gear from
China were forced to return home empty this
week amid traffic jams at and around an airport
in Shanghai as countries from around the world
rush for supplies to fight COVID-19.
One of the planes was chartered by the federal
government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said
Tuesday, and another had been hired by a
provincial government that he declined to
identify. The federally chartered aircraft landed Commons health committee recently that
back in Canada on Monday.
“There are severe restrictions on the ground in
China in terms of how long a plane can actually
stay in their airports before having to leave – supplies.
whether it’s full or not,” Mr. Trudeau said. “At
the same time, supply lines and shipments to the
airport are difficult and interrupted by
checkpoints and quarantine measures,” he said.
He said for the most part Canada has been able
to navigate this chaos, “but these two airplanes
were forced to take off empty.”
Cecely Roy, press secretary to federal Public
Services and Procurement Minister Anita
Anand, said traffic flows prevented the federal
aircraft from picking up its load.
“This occurred due to on the ground congestion
caused by a significant surge in cargo flights out
of terminals at the Shanghai Airport. As a result, Mr. Matthews said Ottawa has ordered more
the intended cargo was unable to get to the plane
before its required takeoff time.”
Separately, Health Minister Patty Hajdu says
some of the personal protective equipment
Canada has received from China is not
appropriate for health care professionals.
“Some of the equipment we received was not
suitable for medical care workers, and we are
looking at that equipment to see if it can be
repurposed for other kinds of workers who do
41
not need the same level of protection," she told
the House of Commons on Monday night.
any U.S. states – where COVID-19 has hit hard
– are competing with other countries to buy
medical gear, from face masks to medical gowns
to gloves and thermometers, and they have
turned to aircraft rather than ships to speed
delivery from China. A report by Shanghai
Daily’s Shine publication on April 15 said more
than 200 cargo flights from around the world
landed and took off from the city’s Pudong
Airport in recent weeks, loading up 10,000
tonnes of medical gear.
Mr. Trudeau said Tuesday that Canada is still
able to ensure Canadian hospitals and other first
responders get the gear they need. “We’re
continuing to receive millions of pieces of
personal protective equipment,” he told
reporters.
Ms. Anand’s office said Canadian officials are
taking steps to prevent further empty planes. She
noted four other flights arrived on the weekend
from China with medical supplies such as N95
respirator masks, protective coveralls and
chemical compounds needed for testing.
“We are closely monitoring this issue and
continue to work closely with officials in China,
including Ambassador [Dominic] Barton and
other diplomatic staff to navigate the current,
complex supply chain environment. Steps are
being taken to ensure that this does not occur
moving forward,” Ms. Roy said.
Bill Matthews, deputy minister of the Public
Service and Procurement department, told the
Canada is “ordering aggressively” from
overseas suppliers, mainly in China, and is
competing against other countries for the same
personal protective equipment and medical
“This is resulting in a complex and
unpredictable supply chain,” Mr. Matthews told
MPs. “We are buying products at a high volume
from unfamiliar suppliers and that can present
challenges in terms of delivery and in terms of
quality.”
He said Canada is “consciously over-ordering”
to ensure the country gets what it needs. Mr.
Matthews said Canadian officials or their agents
are inspecting the goods as they come off the
production line and these items are inspected
again by the Public Health Agency when they
reach Canada.
than 293 million surgical masks and more than
130 million N95 respirators. Only a fraction of
them had been delivered as of last week.
Conservative health critic Matt Jeneroux said
it’s surprising that two planes from Canada
failed to collect their supply loads in China.
“Canadians’ lives and livelihoods literally
depend on the government getting their response
to the pandemic right, and that includes getting
critical supplies.” []