Treaty One Territory, Winnipeg, MB - Manitoba Liberals say the Pallister government's total lack of preparation for the Covid-19 vaccination is clear from two ads posted by the government in the last two weeks.
Recent statistics show that Manitoba has done the worst job of any province in preparing to get people vaccinated from the federal supplies already delivered. Alberta has distributed 57% of their federally supplied vaccine, but Manitoba has only distributed 26%.
Manitoba Liberals say that is no surprise, since the province only just posted an ad for "COVID Immunization Provincial Director" this week.
Just as bad, the PCs waited until 4:58.08 pm on December 23rd, 2020 to post a request for proposal (RFP) asking private companies to supply personnel to vaccinate Manitobans. The RFP is open until April 30.
Pallister announced on December 15 that the first vaccines had arrived in Manitoba.
"Vaccines had already been delivered to Manitoba, we had been in Code Red for weeks and the PCs still have no one in place to organize or administer vaccines. This should have happened in July," said Dougald Lamont, Manitoba Liberal Leader and MLA for St. Boniface. "We have heard directly from qualified nurses who work in health care right now that they have applied and haven't heard back. Pallister has been willing to delay vaccine delivery in order to make sure that private companies can profit off it. It's obscene."
Pallister has been telling the public that everything is in place and the vaccines aren't here. The opposite is true: the vaccines in Manitoba are ready to be used, but the PCs have put no one in place to get it out.
"This is what Pallister should have been focusing on instead of reshuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic," said Lamont.
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