National

Ottawa budgets $5B to buy COVID-19 pharmaceuticals

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 03 Mar, 2021 07:15 PM

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.

Watch live: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses Canadians on the #COVID19 situation. https://t.co/mYZiIKPLAU
— CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) March 3, 2021

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.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Ontario waits for guidance as B.C. delays 2nd dose

Alberto Martin, a University of Toronto immunology professor, says a published clinical trial showed the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provided 60 per cent protection, but B.C. may have access to new or unpublished data.

Ontario waits for guidance as B.C. delays 2nd dose

Mounties who shot at other RCMP won't face charges

The Serious Incident Response team concludes the officers who fired their guns had been told the killer was driving a replica police vehicle and was wearing an orange vest, giving them grounds to believe the officer standing beside a patrol car was the murderer.

Mounties who shot at other RCMP won't face charges

Let's prepare for the next pandemic, feds urge

Grant is taking part in a Wilson Center forum today with U.S. and Mexican officials about the effort to reset the trilateral relationship.

Let's prepare for the next pandemic, feds urge

Canada must ban coal exports, group says

Canada is forcing out any coal-fired power plants that aren't equipped with carbon-capture technology by 2030 and Wilkinson told the alliance summit "there is simply no place for unabated coal" in a net-zero emissions world.

Canada must ban coal exports, group says

Giving bank info to U.S. averted catastrophe: feds

In a newly filed submission to the Federal Court of Appeal, the Canadian government says failure to comply would have had serious effects on Canada's financial sector, its customers and the broader economy.

Giving bank info to U.S. averted catastrophe: feds

NDP pledges support for small businesses

Singh unveiled the promises during a campaign-style event in British Columbia on Tuesday, less than a week after he said the New Democrats would not provoke an election as long as the COVID-19 pandemic persists.