Canada promises 73 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses for the developing world – CBC

Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland made pledge at G20 leaders’ summit in Rome

Oct 30, 2021

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Saturday that Canada will donate millions more COVID-19 vaccine doses to a global vaccine-sharing initiative as rich countries scramble to send more shots to the developing world to help curb stubbornly high case counts.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome, Freeland said Canada is boosting its existing commitment to COVAX, a vaccine distribution program co-ordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other groups, by some 73 million more shots to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are more readily available worldwide.

“We are standing up and doing our share — and that is absolutely the right thing to do,” Freeland said. “Canada’s commitment is very significant because of our size and given we don’t have domestic capacity.”

Saturday’s announcement is in addition to the 127 million doses previously promised by Canada to COVAX.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-promises-covid-vaccine-doses-1.6231465