Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will spend $220 million in taxpayer dollars on COVID-19 vaccines for the third world.
The donation will bring Canada’s total contribution to COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) to $700 million. COVAX is a joint project directed in part by the World Health Organization, which is currently developing a global pandemic treaty that would see it oversee all future pandemic responses in Canada and most countries.
“Our collective aim must be to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines and other medical countermeasures so that every country has what it needs to protect its people from this virus,” Trudeau said during a summit.
Canada has promised to donate at least 200 million doses by the end of 2022 to other poorer nations.
This comes one day after the Liberals presented their $56 billion budget before the House of Commons, which saw the military get shafted once again with lacklustre financial commitments.
Since 2021 the Liberals have devoted billions in foreign aid projects, including over $2.7 billion “to support low and middle-income countries, including by providing access to vaccines, therapeutics and testing.”
The government is also spending $5.3 billion over five years on “international climate financing” in developing countries.
Most recently, the Liberals announced half a billion in 2022-23 to provide military aid to Ukraine and a $1 billion loan program to be used by the Ukrainian government.
Canada is among the countries with the highest share of people vaccinated against COVID-19. To date, 82 per cent of Canadians have been fully vaccinated.
Developing nations like Nigeria and Ethiopia only have 4.5 per cent, and 18 per cent of their populations vaccinated, respectively, and clearly want nothing to do with Pfizer’s vaccines.
