Close X
Sunday, December 1, 2024
ADVT 
National

Ottawa budgets $5B to buy COVID-19 pharmaceuticals

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 03 Mar, 2021 07:15 PM
  • Ottawa budgets $5B to buy COVID-19 pharmaceuticals

The Public Health Agency of Canada expects to spend up to $5 billion on vaccines and other COVID-19 treatments.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand previously said vaccines alone would cost at least $1 billion but the specific contract costs are protected by confidentiality clauses with drug makers.

Federal budget documents show $5.3 billion was approved in December for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, including the purchase of doses, research and development.

Last month $5 billion of that was shifted from the current fiscal year into 2021-22 because most of the vaccine doses Canada is buying aren't being delivered until after March 31, which is when the federal fiscal year ends.

Canada is guaranteed to buy more than 240 million doses of seven different vaccines if all are approved, with only 6.5 million doses expected before the end of March.

The Public Health Agency has not said specifically how much of the $5 billion is going to vaccines versus other COVID-19 medications.

MORE National ARTICLES

Smoking materials link in Abbotsford, B.C., blaze

Smoking materials link in Abbotsford, B.C., blaze
No one was hurt in the Feb. 14 fire, but several cats are missing and all 57 units in the Delair Court complex are destroyed or severely damaged.

Smoking materials link in Abbotsford, B.C., blaze

Canada Post not subject to provincial inspections

Canada Post not subject to provincial inspections
The president of the national union representing postal workers said consistent standards should be applied to all workplaces, noting that the outbreak has had an "enormous impact on all postal workers."

Canada Post not subject to provincial inspections

Tighter border control measures come into effect

Tighter border control measures come into effect
At the Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, some travellers arriving on a flight from Brussels spoke of disconnected calls and hours or even days waiting on the line to make a reservation.

Tighter border control measures come into effect

Trudeau, Biden to hold virtual bilateral Tuesday

Trudeau, Biden to hold virtual bilateral Tuesday
Tuesday's virtual conversation between the two leaders will be Biden's first bilateral meeting as president.

Trudeau, Biden to hold virtual bilateral Tuesday

Canadian funding for homegrown vaccines lacking

Canadian funding for homegrown vaccines lacking
John Lewis, the CEO of Entos Pharmaceuticals in Alberta, says his company is one of six that received about $5 million to move their COVID-19 vaccine along.

Canadian funding for homegrown vaccines lacking

ATV rider found dead in Fraser Valley

ATV rider found dead in Fraser Valley
Kent Harrison Search and Rescue says in a social media post that its members responded late Saturday to reports about the missing 21-year-old.

ATV rider found dead in Fraser Valley