By procuring almost one-quarter million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the government will be able to start distribution immediately so that frontline workers and the vulnerable elderly will get protection. And once the procurement deal was announced, Health Canada moved quickly to approve the vaccine.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on December 14, 2020.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pulled a huge rabbit out of his hat last week.

By procuring almost one-quarter million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the government will be able to start distribution immediately so that frontline workers and the vulnerable elderly will get protection.

And once the procurement deal was announced, Health Canada moved quickly to approve the vaccine.

By doing so, Canada joined the United Kingdom, and Bahrain, becoming just the third country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Four thousand people will be receiving the vaccine next week with priority given to frontline health-care workers.

It also gave Trudeau some much-needed good news in advance of last week’s first ministers’ meeting on health that was not going to be an easy ride.

The federal government has been the major contributor to funding during the COVID crisis. According to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, the national government has been responsible for 80 per cent of the extraordinary costs associated with the pandemic.

And last week’s first ministers’ meeting gave the prime minister a chance to outline some of those successes, including funding for personal protective equipment and direct support for those who lost their jobs because of the virus.

But Trudeau is also under pressure to increase the federal financial share of provincial health funding, as the provinces were seeking an increase from 22 per cent to 35 per cent. That increase would represent additional funding of $28-billion annually, up from the current $42-billion yearly transfer.

Trudeau will not be able to meet their full demands, which some premiers have privately acknowledged as unrealistic. But any increase in ongoing funding will also be tied to the introduction of common standards into health-care delivery, while the provinces want to spend the money in their own jurisdiction with no strings attached.

In normal times, the federal involvement in provincial health matters is a no-go zone. There is simply too much jurisprudence that the matter falls under provincial authority.

More than two decades ago, BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis offered to develop a chip for health care that would record and retain health records for every single Canadian from cradle to grave.

That technology could have been critical in reducing duplication and overlap when patient records are often lost in transfer between hospitals or provinces, when people move.

The senior official involved in the offer, then heading up online initiatives for the government, shut the conversation down in five minutes. She said a single health information system would never happen because the federal government would not impinge on provincial jurisdiction.

That was long before this global pandemic infected the world and exposed gaping holes in provincial delivery of Canadian health care.

Our collective treatment of seniors living in long-term care facilities has been disgraceful. It was so bad that premiers actually called in the Canadian military to save patients. In the financial update, Freeland announced $1-billion to be spent in long-term care facilities on the condition that provinces and the federal government work together to devise national standards.

The provinces are resisting but the population is not impressed after what they have witnessed in filthy nursing homes across the country.

Seniors and single young people are probably those who have suffered most during this world crisis.

Isolation from family and friends is most difficult for those who live on their own, or who are in continuing care facilities where visits have been limited for almost a year.

The vaccine has finally given people hope that there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

The first person in the world to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was a 90-year-old British woman who pleaded with everyone to follow her example.

Her message to anti-vaxxers was that if she could take it, anyone could. She said the vaccine would finally allow her to reunite with her family, from whom she had to isolate because of the virus.

Her message was meant to encourage those who might have doubts about the test. According to the American Food and Drug Administration, only 61 per cent of Americans are likely to get the vaccine. Many vaccine opponents see their refusal as an anti-government political statement. The vaccine is supposed to be taken by at least 70 per cent of citizens for the best chance to achieve herd immunity.

The vast majority of Canadians will likely be lining up eagerly for a vaccine. Their annus horribilus is finally coming to an end.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.