The US economy is opening up and Covid-19 vaccines are increasingly available. But its northern neighbor has had one of the slowest vaccine launches in developed economies and is now imposing new blockades to stop the growth of infections.
Blockades in Canada are coming as new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus have spread across the country. The rapid spread of variant B.1.1.7, first identified in the United Kingdom, and variant P.1, originating in Brazil, forced the authorities of the largest provinces in Canada to impose new residence orders and, in in some cases, schools are closed.
The launch of the vaccine in the country, hampered by supply chain problems and a lack of coordination at the federal and provincial levels, contrasts with its initial and aggressive response to delivering doses earlier in the pandemic. Canada has agreements with eight vaccine manufacturers, most of them completed before the end of last year, for access to 404 million doses – the most per capita doses in any advanced economy.
But Canada has been slow to put those shots in people’s arms, and Canadians have envied US progress
Data collected by Oxford University Our World in Data show that Canada provided one or more doses to about 16% of its population on Tuesday, while the US had covered 32% of its population, the UK was at 47%, and Israel reached 61%.