Canadian election Justin Trudeau
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Premier of British Columbia John Horgan (Images: REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier)

As Australia plunged into its wintry third wave amid the deadly Delta reign, a world away in Canada the mostly vaccinated Canucks are enjoying an endless summer with mostly minimal restrictions. 

Having far exceeded its American neighbour, Canada has the eighth-highest vaccination rate in the world. More than 70% of people 12 and over are fully vaccinated, and almost 80% have received their first dose of the four vaccines offered: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

Australia approved all four of these vaccines too, and is also home to 12 million fewer people than Canada. So what exactly did the Canadians do better than us?

A bigger menu

What set the two nations apart from the beginning was the number of deals — Canada hedged its bets with no fewer than seven vaccine manufacturers. It was a sign of the times: by December 2020, Canada was reeling from 580,000 total cases, compared with Australia’s 28,000.

The deals meant Canada secured more than 400 million vaccines last year — five times what was needed to inoculate its 37 million residents. In Australia, the government ordered just three vaccines — Pfizer, Novovax and AstraZeneca — which equalled about 135 million doses, or almost three times the population.

The Canadian government’s decision proved to be the smarter move. Australia was actually one of the first countries to lock in AstraZeneca, but a tussle with the EU saw part of the order held back.

At the same time, Australia’s local supply from CSL fell flat. Months later, AstraZeneca’s associated blood-clotting condition meant it was mostly down to Pfizer to be the silver bullet in Australia, placing strain on the country’s skinny supplies. 

The early bird special

Canada’s vaccine rollout began at the end of 2020, three months before Australia’s. Canada’s first shipment of Pfizer arrived on December 9, just days after its version of the TGA approved it. Two weeks later Moderna was approved too. Compare that with Australia, where Pfizer didn’t arrive until mid-February, and Moderna was approved here just eight days ago.

By July, Australia was administering about 350,000 Pfizer vaccines a week, and even fewer AstraZeneca, making it the third-worst OECD nation for vaccinations. Canada had received more than 66 million vaccine doses by that time — enough to fully vaccinate every eligible person in Canada — which was two months ahead of its original September goal.

Military-led vaccine operation

Eyebrows were raised June 4 when Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced John Frewen to head the national vaccine taskforce, taking over from retiring health associate secretary Caroline Edwards. But Canada’s top military officer, Major-General Dany Fortin, was running the country’s rollout since the beginning (he was replaced by Brigadier General Krista Brodie in May after sexual misconduct allegations were levelled at him).

There was also a military approach in Ontario, the country’s most populous province, where retired Canadian armed forces commander Rick Hillier led the vaccine task force until April. The Canadian government’s health department actually partnered with the CFA in deploying vaccines across the country.

And they’ve done a pretty good job — more than 23.6 million Canadians are fully vaccinated. Still, Canada has hardly squashed COVID — the country recorded 1973 cases on Monday, and five deaths.

More want it, and more need it

Canada’s health department says about 22 million doses haven’t been used yet, as 20% of the population older than 12 remains at least partially unvaccinated. But vaccine hesitancy is low. One survey put the strongly hesitant group at about 10%, compared with about 21.5% hesitancy in Australia.

That means Canada is free to go a lot harder on mandating vaccines. Morrison has said he would not back compulsory vaccinations beyond aged care and health workers. Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that by the end of October all employees in the federally regulated air, rail and marine transport sectors must be vaccinated or face losing their job.

Banking on citizens’ collective spring-in-their-step as Canada’s warm weather coincided with slightly eased restrictions, Trudeau called an early election this week — describing the widely anticipated move as necessary to give his government a mandate to continue the COVID-19 recovery. But critics have said Trudeau could have waited until 2024.

Although voting is not compulsory in Canada, voting during a pandemic is undeniably risky. Trudeau’s forthrightness is a sure sign that the third-term Liberal Party expects to win in a landslide as Canada saunters out of a lazy summer. 

Time will tell if the fourth wave will be a cold shower for the COVID-confident nation yet.