Canada 'unsuccessful' at limiting COVID-19 vaccine wastage, auditor general finds
CTV
While the federal government was successful in procuring COVID-19 vaccines amid an urgent pandemic situation, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) fell short when it came to minimizing the number of doses wasted and now millions are about to expire, according to Canada's auditor general.
While the federal government was successful in procuring COVID-19 vaccines amid an urgent pandemic situation, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) fell short when it came to minimizing the number of doses wasted and now millions are about to expire, according to Canada's auditor general.
In an audit of the federal government's COVID-19 vaccine procurement, tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Karen Hogan found that while federal departments "secured COVID-19 vaccine doses so that everyone in Canada who chose to be vaccinated could be," once the vaccines arrived the systems to keep track of them were lacking.
Hogan's performance audit focused on assessing the job Public Services and Procurement Canada did in procuring vaccines, and how the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada did in keeping track of the inventory as well as seeing the vaccines delivered across the country and later donated globally.
The audit found that PSPC's "efficient" work—led by then-procurement minister Anita Anand—and the decision to sign advance purchase agreements with seven COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers ensured that Canada would have enough doses to meet the demand. However, Hogan noted that this approach came with the risk of Canada having a surplus of doses.
As this played out in real time, and six of the seven potential vaccines were authorized for use in Canada, the federal government paid for 169 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines between December 2020—when Canada's COVID-19 vaccine authorization and immunization rollout began—and May 2022.
Of those, the federal government administered more than 84 million doses across the country, making it the largest mass vaccination campaign in Canadian history.
That left 85 million COVID-19 vaccine doses unused, 50.6 million of which the audit found were deemed surplus and offered for donation. However, just 15.3 million doses have been given to other countries while 13.6 million expired before they could be donated.
