U.K. won't take vaccines from COVAX program, says high commissioner

The United Kingdom won't access its share of vaccine doses from the COVAX program, says British High Commissioner to Canada Susan le Jeune d'Allegeershecque.

In an interview with Power & Politics, d'Allegeershecque told hostVassy Kapelosthat while the United Kingdom is oneof the biggest contributors toCOVAX, it still doesn't see the need to access its share of the vaccine doses.

"I don't think there are any plans for us to access the doses, but we were in a slightly different position from Canada," she said.

The federal government has faced criticism from charities and opposition parties over its decision to access Canada's share of doses fromCOVAX a global vaccine-sharing initiative jointly co-ordinated by the World Health Organization, theCoalition for Epidemic Preparedness InnovationsandGavi, The Vaccine Alliance.

In a media statement, Green Party leader Annamie Paul said she was "embarrassed" by Ottawa's decision to access vaccines from a program primarily designed to help developing countries.

Butthe federal government defended its action, saying COVAX has always been part of the government's efforts to procurevaccines.

"COVAX has two streams. It has the self-financing stream for countries like Canada to purchase vaccines throughand then it has the advance market commitment for donations to be made for countries who can't purchase them," said International Development Minister Karina Gould in a Power & Politics interview.

The high commissioner also notedthat Britain's vaccine rolloutis more advanced thatCanada's program.

"We've already vaccinated 15 and a half million people, which is something like 23 per cent of the population," said d'Allegeershecque."So at the moment, we're able to access the doses that we need without having to draw from the COVAX facility."

Britain also has the capacity to manufacture its own vaccines domestically.

As it stands, Canada could receive up to 1.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX program by the end of March.