Hon. Peter Harder: Honourable senators, Canada has so far promised 51 million doses out of its own surplus of stock to COVAX and through bilateral donations, but as of today, I’m informed that only about 10 million of those vaccines have been delivered.

So I again ask the Government Representative the following: What is the government doing to accelerate the delivery of the doses committed, and is it considering increasing that commitment? As everybody knows, only 7% of the people in low-income countries have received even a single shot.

Senator Harder: I recognize that Canada has been an early and strong supporter of the ACT Accelerator and COVAX, as Senator Gold has indicated, but the fact is that the pandemic is far from over, and the ACT Accelerator partners have identified new additional funding — beyond that which has already been committed — that is urgently needed for 2022, so that tests, treatments, PPE, oxygen and further vaccine procurement can proceed. Developing countries will need urgent financial support to help deliver those vaccines.

Is the Government of Canada planning on providing further additional support to help end this pandemic everywhere, because as we all know, we must act urgently as, ultimately, Canadians are safe only when the whole world has access to vaccines. More needs to be done.