At a time when the current state of the epidemic in India is alarming and worrying the world, some canadian international epidemic prevention experts are rethinking the Canadian government’s international epidemic prevention policy, criticizing Canada for failing to provide the necessary support for international epidemic prevention and failing to meet its international obligations, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on May 2.
Katrina Perehudoff, a researcher at the WHO Drug Sector Cooperation Center at the University of Toronto, says Canada has a responsibility to work with other countries during public health crises under international human rights law. “Canada is one of 171 countries committed to international human rights law that makes it clear that everyone has the right to health, not only their own people, but also the peoples of the world,” she said. ”
She said it was understandable that Canada gave priority to its own people, but that the Canadian government could not shirk its international responsibilities. Coronavirus is more of a public health product than a commodity.
Perehudoff noted that WHO’s goal in coordinating the Coronavirus pandemic Vaccine Implementation Plan (COVAX) is to provide equal vaccination opportunities to countries around the world, but the fact is that low- and middle-income countries get vaccines much later than rich ones.
Health Canada said on April 27th that it would provide C$10m (C$5.10) in aid for the outbreak in India, but Karina Gould, the federal minister for international development, later said vaccine support would not be available to India “in due course”. And in March, Anita Anand, the federal procurement minister, publicly said the federal government would not support vaccines in other countries until Canada had completed full vaccinations.
