Early in the pandemic, there was intense global competition to secure vaccines. There were no approved vaccines worldwide, and countries were pursuing very aggressive procurement strategies to get doses as soon as possible. Because Canada didn't have strong domestic capacity, we didn't have a strong footing to procure vaccines. The goal of the government was to procure vaccines as early as possible to get them in the arms of Canadians.
On December 4th, 2023. See this statement in context.