Opinion: We need to vaccinate the world and Canada should lead the effort

Groundhog Day used to be a fun news moment – waiting for a rodent to emerge from hibernation to check for his shadow, foretelling a long or short winter.

This is not the case during the time of COVID-19.

The emergence we need is not that of Wiarton Willie but rather one of a plan from our politicians to get us out from under the shadow of the pandemic.

We all need a sign that this nightmare version of the movie Groundhog Day will come to an end.

Canada can play a role if we pop our head up and send a clear signal to global partners that these dark times can end if we chose to work together.

As the world enters the third year of the pandemic, global leadership remains conspicuously absent.

For months, experts and advocates have been warning that our response to Covid-19 is flawed.

Vaccine nationalism by rich nations has prolonged the pandemic by placing a higher value on lives in wealthy countries than on the vulnerable billions of unvaccinated people in the developing world.

Enter the emergence of new variants.

As we look past the pandemic for a way to improve Canada’s reputation and raise its relevance internationally, a simple pivot to sharing vaccines with the world could be the solution.

Unfortunately, Canada is one of the worst offenders when it comes to vaccine hoarding.

We procured more doses per person than any other country and sat on a stockpile of tens of millions of surplus doses, thereby depriving hundreds of millions of people of their first dose as we debated booster shots.

Recently, the OECD calculated it would cost approximately US$50 billion to vaccinate the entire world.

That is a fraction of the US$10 trillion of global stimulus and national economic support programs that have been spent to address the pandemic.

Alas, no nation has taken the leadership to push for the effort to vaccinate the world.

Canada could fill that leadership void and restore its international reputation by dedicating a fraction of its government spending on stimulus and domestic support programs to the effort to restore equal access to testing, treatments and vaccines around the world.

So far, Canada has spent less than one percent of its COVID-19 response on helping to end the pandemic globally.

The positive externalities to addressing the global pandemic could be particularly favourable to a country like Canada that is much more influenced by global developments including its overall terms of trade.

The return on investment is clear. Spending now to prevent future variant surges and lockdowns makes sense.

Canada can own the leadership position by putting money on the table, but our real impact can be in how we integrate the funding with a call for a renewed commitment to vaccine equity, dose sharing, and helping to break the stranglehold that pharmaceutical companies have on intellectual property.

Enabling countries to produce vaccines domestically also has the effect of building capacity in the developing world and mitigates vaccine hesitancy.

A Canada Strategy for ending the pandemic should bring together three steps that are complementary but have been the focus of separate streams of advocacy.

In short, a middle power like Canada can move vaccine equity forward by calling on all countries to commit to a simple formula: “Share, share, share.”

First, share vaccines by speeding up the promised delivery of 200 million doses to vulnerable populations around the world through COVAX by the end of 2022, and ensure that all excess doses pursuant to Canada’s contracts are transferred quickly.

Second, share resources by delivering an additional $1.1 billion to address global vaccine equity in the upcoming budget 2022, including to Act-Accelerator partners to purchase vaccines, tests, treatments, PPR and oxygen in developing countries.

Lastly, we need to share knowledge by contributing to a significant increase in global manufacturing capabilities for vaccines and other tools to fight the pandemic by supporting the temporary waiver of intellectual property rights relating to COVID-19 vaccines and technology (TRIPS waiver) as proposed by the World Trade Organization.

This includes the transfer of technology to manufacture vaccines around the world, including financial support for regional hubs such as the South Africa Technology Transfer Hub.

Canada has historically been a trusted broker of international consensus.

It is time it remerged as the leader it can be.