Vaccine rollout still under scrutiny, even as Canada delivers 10M doses to provinces

OTTAWA – The federal government has hit a milestone for vaccine distribution, but it’s raising some questions about just how quickly those shots are getting into people’s arms.

Canada has now distributed 10-million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the provinces.

Health Minister Patty Hajdu marked the moment in a Twitter thread Monday in which she broke down how many doses have been sent to each province and how many have been administered so far — highlighting some big gaps in our most populated provinces.

As of today, we have delivered 10 million #COVID19 vaccines across Canada! Here’s how we’re working with provinces and territories to protect communities: pic.twitter.com/YEKT2CDOO0

— Patty Hajdu (@PattyHajdu) April 5, 2021

In B.C., there have been nearly 1.3-million vaccines delivered and just under 900,000 shots administered. Quebec has been given 2.3-million doses but only handed out 1.5-million.

In British Columbia we have provided 1,289,060 vaccines, with 893,590 doses administered. Learn more: https://t.co/SFKhuLUP3q

— Patty Hajdu (@PattyHajdu) April 5, 2021

However, Ontario has the biggest gap, receiving more than 4-million doses but only administering 2.5 million, meaning there are likely 1.5-million vaccines still sitting in freezers in that province.

In Ontario, we’ve provided 4,022,875 vaccines and they have administered 2,545,640 doses across the province. Learn more about Ontario’s vaccination rollout here: https://t.co/GksNKOJoeZ

— Patty Hajdu (@PattyHajdu) April 5, 2021

Vaccine supply has been a point of criticism from some provinces, with premiers like Doug Ford in Ontario saying they don’t have enough.

Hajdu says with millions of doses arriving in the coming weeks, the government will continue to be transparent with how many are received and given.

However, she would not say directly if there were concerns with the speed by which doses were being administered.

“I think that it’s hard for me to give you a general answer because of course provinces and territories have very different strategies across the country,” she said Tuesday when asked about the pace of distribution. “What I can tell you is we’re watching closely and we stand ready to assist any province or territory who’s having a challenge in rolling out vaccination.”

Federal Conservatives call for inquiry into Trudeau gov’t COVID-19 response

This all comes as provinces beef up restrictions amid a recent spike in COVID-19 cases, driven by more contagious variants that are hitting younger people a lot harder than any other age group.

The federal Conservatives continue to criticize the Liberals for their response to the pandemic. Tory Leader Erin O’Toole said Tuesday that if his party forms government, it will call a public inquiry into the Trudeau government’s handling of the health crisis.

“A public inquiry will ensure that all lessons learned from the crisis are publicly aired and improvements can be immediately adopted,” he said, about an hour before the federal update.

Last May, Trudeau committed to a review into the federal government’s COVID-19 response to see if strategies could have been executed better. However, he said it would be done when the pandemic is over.

The prime minister did not commit to a specific method for that review.

In May of last year the Prime Minister committed to a review into the federal government's response to the pandemic to see if strategies could have been done better, but said it will be done when the crisis is over. He did not commit to specific method for that review #cdnpoli

— Cormac Mac Sweeney (@cmaconthehill) April 6, 2021