Signs for people to follow at a mass vaccination site Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 in Quebec City. Vaccination for will begin for members of the populartion that are at risk Monday in the Quebec City region.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
There is an emergency debate in Parliament tonight on Ottawa's response to the H1N1 crisis, with the opposition hoping to pin the blame for a shortage of vaccine on the Harper government.
Conservative officials emphasized in Question Period that Canada is ahead of the rest of the world on a per-capita basis, with six million doses of the vaccine already in circulation.
But the Liberals launched a number of attacks, saying the Conservatives have to take responsibility for failing to deliver all the promised doses to the provinces, which administer the shots.
"Provincial and regional health authorities have been blind-sided by a lack of flu vaccine and the public has been left confused and frightened. The federal government had seven full months to do two primary things: provide the vaccine and send a clear and consistent message to Canadians on H1N1," Liberal MP Todd Russell said. "How is it that the federal government could get it so wrong on both counts."
The government said that according to original plans, vaccination was only supposed to start this week, and that many members of targeted groups have benefited from last week's early roll-out.
"Recognizing that it is impossible to vaccinate 33 million Canadians in eight days, provinces and territories, over the summer months, established sequencing guidelines to be used by first-line health care workers in the provinces and territories that deliver health care," Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said.
"The first rollout of the vaccine is six million doses that we have distributed so far. It is intended to be focused on the most vulnerable, based on the guidelines that were established with the provinces, the territories and the chief medical officers of every jurisdiction," she added.
Thousands of Canadians have waited hours in line to get their shots, and there has been much criticism of the fact that GlaxoSmithKline has not delivered as many does of the vaccine in recent days as was initially expected.
The Liberals called for the emergency debate in the House of Commons, saying that the government has to explain its role in recent failures.
While the federal government does not decide where vaccine shots are administered, opposition MPs blasted the fact that private clinics in Toronto and Vancouver have received doses.
"We just have to make sure that access to the vaccine should in no way depend on the size of your wallet," Liberal MP Bob Rae said.
"I think the federal government has to take some responsibility in not establishing clear guidelines as to how the drugs would be distributed."