Thank you, Chair.
It is my pleasure to be here before the committee. I'm joined today from Geneva by my colleague Stephen de Boer, Canadian ambassador and permanent representative to the WTO.
Building on decades of leadership in global health, Canada has been a champion of vaccine equity, contributing to a robust, multi-faceted and global response to the pandemic since the very beginning.
Throughout the pandemic, Canada has reinforced its position as a leader in global health and equity. We've done that by championing new mechanisms for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical products, and by working collaboratively within the international rules-based trading system to support broader access to vaccines.
Canada is committed to supporting equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. That's why we've worked hand in hand with the access to COVID-19 tools accelerator, or the ACT accelerator, and the COVAX facility towards this goal. COVAX remains the best way to ensure that all countries have equitable and timely access to COVID-19 vaccines. Canada has committed $580 million in support, and has been a key champion of the facility since its inception nearly two years ago.
COVAX uses a fair, transparent and equitable allocation framework based on a series of algorithms that ensure doses are distributed where they are needed most.
COVAX has now shipped over 1.3 billion doses to 144 countries. Despite some initial challenges in securing the supply it needed last year, COVAX has been well positioned since the fall to meet the supply needs of its members while also offering integrated end-to-end support. It is the key mechanism to help ensure that all countries have what they need to make steady progress towards the WHO's goal of achieving 70% immunization rates this year.
The donations of vaccines were critical last year when global supply was severely constrained, and they've played a major role in COVAX's effort to ensure that all countries have access. Part of Canada's contribution to the facility included $10 million specifically for the development and operationalization of COVAX's dose-sharing mechanism through which doses offered for donation by any country are matched with the countries that need them, ensuring that global efforts are coordinated.
In addition, Canada has committed to donating the equivalent of at least 200 million doses to the COVAX facility by the end of 2022. To date, more than 100 million vaccine doses have been delivered through COVAX.
This includes 15 million surplus doses that COVAX has shipped to 23 countries on Canada's behalf and the equivalent of 87 million doses procured through Canada's financial support.
Additionally, Canada is one of only four countries to pay the full ancillary costs for any doses donated through COVAX. This ensures that the costs for syringes, diluent and safe disposal materials don't create an additional burden on COVAX or recipient country partners.
The global vaccine supply landscape has shifted in recent months, and production and supply now exceed current demand and administration capacity. If the landscape in 2021 was supply constrained, the landscape in 2022 is evolving to be demand constrained. To help adjust this, Canada will continue to go beyond procurement. It will also reinforce vaccine delivery and strengthen health systems to ensure that countries have the support they need to turn vaccines into vaccinations.
Canada has provided $100 million to support the delivery and distribution of vaccines through COVAX's delivery program. We have made a significant investment to support the system in conjunction with the World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization, or WHO and PAHO.
Canada is exploring additional ways to increase bilateral and regional support for country-level delivery and administration, including for demand generation.
While we have currently moved beyond the situation of supply scarcity we faced last year, we are committed to doing our part to ensure it doesn't happen again, by addressing barriers to production and access.
We are working with international partners to improve global capacity to manufacture vaccines for both COVID-19 and beyond. Since the onset of the pandemic, Canada has actively worked with other WTO members and international partners to identify and address concrete barriers to access, such as supply chain constraints and export restrictions.
As Ambassador de Boer is in attendance today, he can speak to Canada's engagements at the WTO and provide the latest from there.
Canada recognizes that global vaccine access and distribution depends on numerous factors that go beyond intellectual property. They include the resilience of supply chains, distribution challenges, access to technical know-how and expertise, and, of course, production capacity and funding.
To support more diversified vaccine production, Canada announced at the G20 summit last year an investment of $15 million to support COVAX partners and a South African consortium to set up an mRNA technology transfer and manufacturing hub in South Africa.
In conclusion, Canada remains committed to helping achieve the WHO target of vaccinating 70% of the world's population.
By supporting global, multilateral efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic and complementing this with targeted, country-specific support, Canada will continue to take a leading role in helping ensure that all countries have access to the COVID-19 tools and support they require.
Thank you, Chair.
