The European Commission has said it had already authorized a vaccine delivery to Canada and COVID-19 vaccine export control restrictions would apply only in “very limited cases.”
In a statement, the spokesperson of the Commission said so far, there have been only two delivery requests, one request came from Canada and the other request came from the UK.
The statement said: “Member states have handled these requests very swiftly and these exports have been authorized in accordance with the opinion of the Commission. It proves that the system is working and that we will use it only in very limited cases,.”
The statement added that Canada knows that the EU is saddled with the duty of ensuring that its citizens are vaccinated as soon as possible but it does not want other countries to be deprived of their own much vaccines, especially countries that do not possess their own manufacturing capacity.
The statement also confirmed that Public Services and Procurement Minister, Anita Anand gave an assurance during a recent COVID-19 update in which she made it known that Canada would get its expected vaccine shipments from Europe this week.
Anand said: “We have had conversations with our suppliers as recently as this morning and yesterday, who have assured us that the paperwork has been submitted, and that the shipments should be fine, for this week to leave the European Union.”
“We are expecting our shipments as a result, and all systems are a go for these shipments.”
