(OTTAWA) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Canada will donate an additional $220 million to the global vaccine-sharing alliance COVAX.
Posted at 1:18 p.m.
The funds will bring Canada’s total monetary donation to COVAX to approximately $700 million for the purchase, delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines for low-income countries.
The money is intended to help Canada meet its commitment to donate at least 200 million doses by the end of the year, including at least 38 million doses from its own domestic supplies.
So far, Canada has shipped 14.2 million doses to 19 countries through COVAX and another 762,000 directly to six countries through bilateral vaccine donation agreements.
He clarifies that an additional 87 million doses were purchased by COVAX with previous financial donations from Canada, but this number is based on a cost-per-dose formula developed by the UK, and COVAX itself says it does not cannot confirm the exact number.
International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan said in a recent interview that Canada does not ship donated doses until it is certain that they can be distributed and used by the recipient country before they are expiry.