Government of Ottawa Gets Rid of $1.6 Billion Worth of Expired COVID-19 Vaccines
Ottawa is still receiving COVID-19 vaccine shipments despite discarding expired doses valued at close to $1.6 billion, as demand for the vaccines declines nationwide.
By November 2023, at least 52.9 million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been thrown away, according to a briefing note from Health Minister Mark Holland dated Dec. 6 and obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter. With an estimated cost of $30 per dose, the total wastage cost amounts to approximately $1.59 billion.
The Public Health Agency is still accepting vaccine deliveries despite disposing of tens of millions of doses, as stated in the December note. The department did not specify the remaining doses to be delivered or the total number the agency has agreed to receive.
“The Public Health Agency does not plan to purchase additional COVID-19 vaccines once current contractual deliveries under existing Advance Purchase Agreements are completed by the end of 2024 for mRNA vaccines and in 2024 for non-mRNA vaccines,” the report revealed.
A report from the Department of Public Works to the Commons public accounts committee in the previous year indicated that the government anticipated the delivery of approximately 90.8 million vaccine doses by the end of 2024, sufficient for four booster shots for each of the 21.8 million fully vaccinated Canadians against the virus.
The remaining doses are produced by three companies, namely Moderna, Pfizer, and Novavax. Novavax, touted as a traditional vaccine rather than an mRNA vaccine, was developed and approved much later.
Related Stories
Quebec-based Medicago received $323 million from the Canadian government to bring vaccine doses to market but was later shut down by its parent company Mitsubishi Chemical Group in early 2023.
Mitsubishi Chemical Group cited “significant changes” in the vaccine market leading to a drop in demand for pulling out investments in the company. The federal government managed to recover only $40 million of the $323 million invested in the company.
The Conservative Party made an attempt in January to demand the release of all records concerning Medicago’s vaccine contracts with the federal government and called for an extensive investigation of the matter.
The motion was later revised to allow members of the Standing Committee on Health (HESA) to review the unedited contracts and was backed and approved by the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois, and the NDP.
