Roundup: Some vaccine doses arriving soon

Posted on by

The prime minister was out this morning with a significant announcement about the vaccine roll-out, in that Canada could see its first 249,000 doses being delivered within about a week, pending Health Canada approval. As well, the box from Pfizer that will serve as the “dry run” of the roll-out plans also left Belgium and was heading for Canada for the exercise. The whole vaccine roll-out is going to be taxing to supply chains for things like dry ice, and there is already talk about lowering some expectations for how soon some long-term care residents can receive doses, because the Pfizer vaccine loses effectiveness if it is jostled too much, as it is with transport, so that may mean trying to find ways of getting those residents to vaccination centres instead of the other way around. We’ll see how this goes.

There is an interesting story in the Globe about a private vaccine manufacturer in Montreal, which is right next door to the National Research Council facility that is currently under construction, which is believed to be capable of manufacturing at least one of the potential vaccine candidates, but they appear not to have been asked by the government, or engaged in any meaningful way. I have questions, however, because it doesn’t really specify which type of vaccines could be manufactured (and yes, this does matter), so it may be a case of waiting to see the viability of one of the later candidates for approval before they go too far with licensing or engaging.

Meanwhile, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole has the audacity to blame the Liberals for the anti-vaxx petition that his MP, Derek Sloan, has been sponsoring. O’Toole says that because the Liberals have been so lacking in transparency that these kinds of things are bound to happen – which is some grade-A horseshit if I ever heard it. This as O’Toole spent the morning shifting the goalposts on what he deems to be sufficient transparency from the government. Of course, O’Toole doing the bare minimum and saying he doesn’t support the petition Sloan is sponsoring, but doing little else to stop the misinformation that he has had an active hand in spreading is quite something. Then again, there does seem to be a tendency among many conservative leaders to shift blame and deny that they are responsible for anything, and we apparently are seeing that again here.

Good reads:

  • Chrystia Freeland and Ahmed Hussen are both saying that accelerated talks with the provinces over universal childcare are in the works.
  • While the federal government has been moving their vehicle fleet to green vehicles, they have barely made a dent in providing charging stations at federal buildings.
  • Here is some background on the RCMP spy case, and what helped to expose him.
  • The Financial Post goes through wage subsidy information, and finds that some 68 publicly traded companies still issued dividends while taking the wage subsidy.
  • Assembly of First Nations national chief Perrey Bellegarde says he won’t run for the leadership position again next summer.
  • Conservatives like Candice Bergen encouraged followers to harass the owners of Speakers’ Spotlight over their tangential involvement in the WE Imbroglio.
  • The NDP want the CPP Investment Board to dump shares of Palantir, which would be yet more political interference in the arm’s -length board.
  • Heather Scoffield assess the appointment of Michael Sabia as the new Deputy Minister of Finance.
  • Kevin Carmichael delves into the problems created by companies who availed themselves of the wage subsidy and still went ahead with dividends and the like.
  • Paul Wells reads through a report that Revera long-term care facilities commissioned on their failures during the pandemic, and their response to it.
  • Colby Cosh parses the latest report into “Havana Syndrome” and makes note of what it attempts to conclude, and what it is conspicuously silent about.

Odds and ends:

Maclean’s annual Chart-apolooza has been released, where economists from across the country offer a chart of what they are looking at in the New Year.

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.

2 thoughts on “Roundup: Some vaccine doses arriving soon”

  1. With Rempel having labeled Pfizer a “Liberal shill” front and now Sloan engaging the QAnon anti-vax fanatics, I’m sure it won’t be long now before the Cons start goading their cult base to harass and threaten vaccine manufacturers and distributors — if they haven’t already. Plus, Moderna’s CEO is a refugee from Lebanon, so that’s some extra meat to throw to the rabid base. I really hope the Perelmuter couple and the K-bros do file a flood of lawsuits against these horrible people, who have no place in parliament. And for making the Perelmuters’ pain all about himself, and for what he did otherwise on this overblown nothingburger of a non-scandal, I hope to see Margaret Trudeau take on Charlie Angus in a charity boxing tournament…. to benefit the WE charity. “Mama said knock you out.”

  2. O’Toole has a severe case of the sweats. That is unfortunate in that it is so bothersome for him that he has a penchant of using used baby nappies to wipe his brow. The result is that he brings a unique type of stench daily into the chamber which is worsened by his having to stand next to his sycophants whose reticence to use deodorants just adds to the miasma that permeates the House.

Comments are closed.