We looked at the timelines for when all of this happened. The government waited for the vaccine task force to make a recommendation about which vaccine companies were more likely to have viable vaccines. That recommendation was made by the vaccine task force in late June, and the first agreement was signed in late July. The delay was mostly in waiting for the right recommendations. That is how it was explained to us by the department.
On December 6th, 2022. See this statement in context.