Tag Archives: caribbean

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Annual Agricultural Review highlights sustainable agriculture, food security

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources, Honourable Alexis Jeffers, said his vision for the agricultural sector in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is to increase the production of food; improve food security; and the nutrition and health of the population.

Minister Jeffers spoke at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Annual Review and Agenda 2021 Meeting on February 4, under the theme “Together, We Invest, Transform and Build Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security.”

He said his vision “seeks to stimulate greater economic growth in the agricultural sector through the development of a well-coordinated planning and implementation framework that is interactive and effective.”

The Minister of Agriculture said there are great opportunities today in St. Kitts and Nevis for new and expanded food enterprise development.

“Expanding access to fresh, healthy, locally grown products enhances the ability of our families, schools, and institutions to serve nutritiously balanced meals,” said Jeffers. “They create more liveable-wage jobs in agriculture to ensure that our families and communities will thrive,” He highlighted that these positive changes will go hand in hand with efforts to improve the health care system of the Federation.

“Our vision speaks to the view that our agricultural sector can be technology-driven, competitive, and market-oriented, and can contribute to national development,” concluded Jeffers.

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Officer-involved shooting being investigated in Sandy Point

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Violent Crime Unit is investigating an officer-involved shooting incident that occurred in Sandy Point on January 30.

Sometime after 4 p.m. on Saturday, a man contacted the Sandy Point Police Station. He reported that his neighbour had beaten his 7-year-old son and requested assistance. The Police responded.

Preliminary investigations so far have revealed that the Police arrived at the scene and the assailant was behaving in a violent manner and used threatening language. He refused to cooperate with their instructions.

The Anti-Gang Unit was summoned to provide assistance. While there, the assailant continued behaving in a violent manner. He advanced towards the Officers with a knife, swung the knife at them and threatened to kill one of them. He was warned and refused to comply with the commands of the Officers. As a result, he was shot in the legs by members of the Anti-Gang Unit. He was transported to the Joseph Nathaniel France General Hospital via the Emergency Medical Service ambulance where he is warded in a stable condition.

Personnel from the Forensic Department processed the scene and collected items of evidential value. Investigations into the matter are ongoing.

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Dept. of Youth Empowerment offers capacity-building training to youth groups

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — A series of training in the coming weeks and months designed to improve the effectiveness of youth groups in meeting their goals in service to their respective communities are being hosted by the Department of Youth Empowerment.

“Capacity building training sessions are timely,” said Youth Officer, Mrs. Shenisia Puran. “Their goal is to improve the quality and effectiveness of youth development services and to provide youth access opportunities and play a significant role in community development.”

Ms. Puran said the sessions are important and will prove beneficial to the groups.

“These training sessions will benefit them in the development of their groups so we can see how far they are in terms of how effective the club is,” she said. “We are trying to empower them to enhance their structure so they can be more effective in what they are trying to do.”

It is hoped that the youth groups would have more to offer to the communities after completing the training.

The capacity building training sessions run for the entire year with the first one slated on February 11. All groups desiring to participate must register with the Department of Youth Empowerment. Groups can sign up for sessions on or before February 12 for free. An EC $50 fee will be charged for groups that sign up after February 12.

All sessions will begin at 5:00 p.m. and last until 6:30 p.m. every second Thursday of the month at the Department of Youth Empowerment Conference Room on the top floor of The Cable building located on Cayon Street in Basseterre, St. Kitts.

All health and safety protocols will be carried out given the current COVID-19 environment. A schedule was implemented for the first session on the topic ‘Youth Work and the Principles of an Effective NGO.’ This session will be attended by group presidents only.

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Spectators excluded from attending sport events

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, and more specifically the Department of Sport, on the advice of the Cabinet and the National COVID-19 Task Force, has taken the decision that permission to host all inter-team and inter-club competitive matches shall be granted to the exclusion of spectators until further notice.

This decision has been taken on the heels of an upsurge in COVID-19 reported cases in the Caribbean Sub-region as well as travel source markets to St. Kitts and Nevis. The Department of Sport is committed to supporting sport development and competition in the safest possible manner for athletes, management, officials and spectators.

On February 2, a meeting was convened between the Minister of Sport and Representatives from the various National Sporting Federation to discuss the decision to exclude spectators from competitions as well as several other matters. The Ministry has pledged its full support to each discipline.

The absence of spectators from sporting competitions does not limit in any way the playing of any sport or the holding of any competitions. The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture has led by example in recent times through the hugely successful virtual presentation of National Carnival, and SugarMas 49, and encourages all sporting associations to devise creative means by which fans can view their various competitions.

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King Balang registers first win in St. Kitts National Domino tournament

Besroy Tata of Newcomers I was not taking any chances as his team successfully avoided being clawed by beating Eagle Claws 26-22.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Having lost five games in a row in the first round of the St. Kitts National Domino Association (SKNDA) tournament currently taking place at the New Town Community Centre, the King Balang Domino Club turned the tide and won their first game on Thursday evening, February 4.

The King Balang Domino Club team rallied against Newcomers II Domino Club for a registered an empathic 26-12 win. They were the first team, out of the 12 teams taking part in the tournament, to register a win for the evening.

For King Balang, Vernon ‘Budgy’ Elliott, and Yazid Francis won eight game and lost one; while Charles Morton and Julian ‘King Balang’ Morton won four games without blemish.

Match of the evening saw Los Fuertes del Domino beat Spartans Fig Tree Domino Club 26-24 in a nail-biter. It was closely followed, in terms of excitement generated, by the game in which Newcomers I Domino Club edged out Eagle Claws Domino Club 26-22.

Coming from behind: Derrick Fyfield of King Balang in action.

In other results of the evening, current points standing leaders Terminal Boyz Domino Club defeated Til Ah Marnin Domino Club 26-20; Latecomers Domino Club handed Poor Man Pocket Domino Club their second straight loss, as they won 28-16; and Masters Domino Club beat Lodge Domino Club 26-20.

Points standing after six segments of play: Terminal Boyz, 31 points; Masters, 25 points; Poor Man Pocket, 21 points; Latecomers, 21 points; Newcomers I, 21 points; Til Ah Marnin, 16 points; Los Fuertes del Domino, 16 points; Lodge, 15 points; Newcomers II, 5 points; Spartans Fig Tree, 5 points; Eagle Claws, 5 points; and King Balang, 5 points.

The competition, which is sponsored by the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis – Platinum Sponsor, First Federal Credit Union, Best For Less Trading Ltd, The Craft House, and NAGICO Insurances, will continue on Sunday, February 7, at the New Town Community Centre starting at 5:00 p.m. with the teams meeting in the seventh segment of play in the first round.

Order of play: King Balang will come up against Eagle Claws; Masters vs. Terminal Boyz; Spartans Fig Tree will face Til Ah Marnin; Los Fuertes del Domino vs. Latecomers; Poor Man Pocket vs. Lodge; and Newcomers I will battle it out with Newcomers II.

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Canadian Airlines Suspend Flights to Caribbean

by The Canadian Press

Four of Canada’s major airlines have suspended service to Mexico and the Caribbean as of today.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday that Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat had agreed to the measure in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The restriction will last until April 30, and Trudeau says the airlines will help arrange the return of customers currently on a trip.

It’s one of a suite of new government measures aimed at preventing Canadians from travelling abroad in the doldrums of February and throughout spring break.

For instance, starting first thing Thursday, all international passenger flights must land at only four airports – in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal.

And in the coming weeks, all air travellers arriving in Canada will have to stay at a government-approved hotel for three nights and take a COVID-19 test – all at their own cost which could total more than $2000.

When asked why it would cost so much, Trudeau said non-essential travellers would have to pay for the cost of testing from a private company, along with additional hotel expenses to ensure workers are safe.

“We will have to go to private tests, obviously we don’t want to prevent other Canadians from being tested because of these travellers. So travellers will pay for these tests and be required to wait up to three days to receive the results,” he explained.

Ontario is also moving move forward with passenger testing at Pearson Airport despite a similar federal program. Under the Ford government’s plan, all international travellers will take a COVID-19 test on arrival starting Monday, February 1 at 12:01 p.m.

As part of the province’s new a six-point plan – which was also announced Friday – the new testing measures will soon apply to the province’s land border crossings to the United States, however, no date has been set.

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US with Record 5,000 Virus Deaths as Hospitalizations Drop, World Stats

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STUDY: YOUNGER ADULTS ARE BIGGEST US CORONA SPREADERS

Adults age 20 to 49 are the biggest spreaders of COVID-19 in the US, according to British researchers who say targeting this age group for vaccination could hasten school reopenings.

A team at Imperial College London used cellphone data from more than 10 million people to calculate that 65 of 100 infections originated from those ages 20 to 49 in the US.

A team at Imperial College London used cellphone data from more than 10 million people to calculate that 65 of 100 infections originated from those ages 20 to 49 in the US. (iStock)

A team at Imperial College London used cellphone data from more than 10 million people to calculate that 65 of 100 infections originated from those ages 20 to 49 in the US. (iStock)

They found that people in that age bracket accounted for about 72 percent of the cases after schools reopened in October. Less than 5 percent came from children, and less than 10 percent from teens.

Adults ages 35 to 49 accounted for 41 percent of new cases through mid-August, compared to 35 percent for adults ages 20 to 34, according to the peer-reviewed study published in Science.

FAUCI BACKS ‘DOUBLE-MASKING’ IN CORONAVIRUS FIGHT

“We find adults aged 20-49 are a main driver of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United State and are the only age groups contributing disproportionally to onward spread, relative to their population size,” Imperial College’s Dr. Melodie Monod said.

“While children and teens contribute more to COVID-19 spread since school closure mandates have been lifted in fall 2020, we find these dynamics have not changed substantially since school reopening,” she added.

The college’s Dr. Oliver Ratmann said: “We believe this study is important because we demonstrate that adults aged 20-49 are the only age groups that have consistently sustained COVID-19 spread across the US, despite large variations in the scale and timing of local epidemics.

“Thus, at least where highly transmissible variants have not established, additional interventions targeting the 20-49 age group could bring resurgent epidemics under control and avert deaths,” he added.

Meanwhile, a new study suggests that coronavirus antibodies last for at least six months after infection for the majority of people who contracted the bug.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

The research from UK Biobank found that 99 percent of participants who had tested positive for previous infection retained antibodies for three months after being infected, while 88 percent did so for the full six months of the study, according to Sky News.

“This important study has revealed that the vast majority of people retain detectable antibodies for at least six months after infection with the coronavirus,” said Professor Naomi Allen, UK Biobank chief scientist.”Although we cannot be certain how this relates to immunity, the results suggest that people may be protected against subsequent infection for at least six months following natural infection,” Allen said.

“More prolonged follow-up will allow us to determine how long such protection is likely to last,” she added.

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Coronavirus Cases:

105,502,306

Deaths:

2,296,454

Recovered:

77,200,023

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USVI: Epstein’s Victim Payments Cease in Asset Freeze

NEW YORK (AP) — A fund set up to provide money to scores of women who say they were abused by financier Jeffrey Epstein when they were as young as 14 has abruptly suspended payouts over uncertain funding, an action the Virgin Islands attorney general blamed Thursday on Epstein’s estate as she moved to freeze its assets.

The announcement by the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program came through a release that attributed the suspension to uncertainty about the liquidity of estate assets needed to finance payouts.

Officials said the fund, which operates independently of the estate, would have up to $630 million when it began operations last June.

It said payments, which have topped $55 million, will not resume before March 25, the deadline to file claims. The deadline to register for the program is Monday.

A view of Jeffrey Epstein’s stone mansion on Little St. James Island, a property owned by Jeffrey Epstein, is backdropped by St. John Island, Wednesday, August 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Gabriel Lopez Albarran)

Late Thursday, US Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise N. George said in a statement that her office was seeking a court order to freeze all payments and sales of assets by the co-executors of Epstein’s estate to preserve and protect its assets.

“My office’s worst fears have been realized as we learned the Epstein Estate will not make its currently owed payment to the fund it claimed to have set up to compensate sexual abuse survivors and victims of Jeffrey Epstein,” George said.

The Estate has found its way to pay for lawyers, landscaping, and helicopter fees, but not the brave women who have stepped forward to participate in the compensation fund. It is, unconscionably, another promise made and broken by Epstein and now, his Estate,” she said.

George said she was unaware that the estate was defaulting on deposits it was required to make until the estate informed her Wednesday that it could not make its agreed-to payment and did not know when it could.

She said the estate had breached an agreement with the government of the Virgin Islands and lawyers for victims that was approved by the Probate Court of the US Virgin Islands.

In a statement, the estate said it has so far funded the program with over $87 million to pay claimants and that over $55 million has been paid out.

It said the estate finished 2020 with $240 million in assets, but that many of them were residential properties, private investments and aircraft that need to be sold, a process hampered by the coronavirus pandemic and lawsuits the estate must defend against.

Estate attorney Daniel Weiner said in an email that the payouts since June are “a measure of the Programs’ remarkable efficiency in hearing and issuing determinations for the benefit of scores of claimants.”

He said the attorney general’s claims in court were “factually and legally unsupportable” and he called upon her to lift liens on two islands in St. Thomas that are owned by the estate so that they can be sold and the money disbursed to women through the fund.

According to the release from the fund, the program’s 150 claims to date have far exceeded expectations; when the fund began, the program said there was expected to be over 70 claims.

Annie Farmer, left, and Courtney Wild, right, alleged victims of Jeffery Epstein, stand outside the courthouse in New York, Monday, July 15, 2019. (AP/Seth Wenig)

Jordy Feldman, the fund’s administrator, said the suspension of payouts was necessary to protect those who have not yet resolved their claims.

“Issuing a compensation offer that cannot be timely and fully funded and paid, consistent with the way the Program has operated to date, would compromise claimants’ interests and the guiding principles of the Program,” Feldman said in a statement.

The fund provides an alternative to pursuing claims through the courts. It was established with help from Kenneth Feinberg, a well-known mediator who oversaw compensation funds for victims of the September 11 attacks and of clergy sex abuse within New York’s Roman Catholic archdiocese.

The fund was financed with money from the estate of Epstein, 66, who killed himself at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges that alleged he abuse women and girls under the age 18 at his Florida estate and his Manhattan mansion in the early 2000s.

Messages seeking reaction to the fund’s shutdown have been sent to several lawyers involved in litigation on behalf of women who say they were sexually abused by Epstein.

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US: Racist Congresswoman Stripped by Democrats

House Democrats on Thursday took the extraordinary step of voting to strip committee assignments from a member of the opposite party, saying Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) had forfeited her right to those seats by endorsing conspiracy theories, racist dogma and violence against Democratic politicians.

Lawmakers passed the resolution largely along party lines — 230-199 — to remove Greene from the House Education and Budget committees after Republicans declined to take action against her themselves.

Eleven Republicans crossed the aisle in a rare rebuke of a colleague from their own party: Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Carlos Giménez (Fla.), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.), John Katko (N.Y.), Young Kim (Calif.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.), Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.), Chris Smith (N.J.) and Fred Upton (Mich.).

The debate over Greene’s fate has become emblematic of the larger brawl over the direction and future of the Republican Party in post-Trump Washington. The former president has moved to Florida, his Twitter account shut down, but retains enormous influence over GOP base voters drawn to the nationalist, no-apologies persona that defined his time in the White House — a mold Greene has assumed, with Trump’s enthusiastic support.

Democrats implored the GOP to hold members of Congress to what they think should be a minimal standard: that anyone who has endorsed political violence or embraced conspiracy theories like suggesting school shootings were staged or QAnon — whose supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 — has no business serving on committees.

But House Republicans, wary of angering the GOP base that embraces Trump and Greene, have stepped to her defense. While condemning Greene’s incendiary comments, they also maintain that most were made before she became a member of Congress and therefore shouldn’t be disqualifying.

Republicans further warned that Democrats were setting a dangerous precedent with the majority party taking unilateral action to dictate the minority’s committee roster.

“I think you are, frankly, overlooking the unprecedented nature of the acts that you’ve decided upon, and where that may lead us when the majority changes,” said Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), the senior Republican on the Rules Committee.

Given the extraordinary nature of Greene’s past stances, however, Democrats said they had no qualms about setting an institutional precedent Thursday.

“If any of our members threatened the safety of other members, we’d be the first ones to take them off of a committee,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Relegated to the minority after losing the White House, Senate and House, Republicans are trying to maintain what House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) described as a “very big tent.” Their dilemma is in locating a strategy that attracts the pro-Trump nationalist base, exemplified by Greene, without repelling other groups of voters — women, independents, suburbanites — vital to their party’s national success.

The delicate effort to thread that needle was on display in the Capitol on Wednesday night, where House Republicans voted privately on the fate of another of their members, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who fended off a challenge to her position as the party’s conference chair after voting to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Greene, meanwhile, received a standing ovation during Wednesday night’s closed-door GOP conference meeting after she apologized for embracing QAnon and other conspiracy theories. QAnon baselessly claims that Democrats and other public figures are running a global child sex-trafficking ring.

Hours before Thursday’s vote, Greene delivered a speech on the House floor where she defended her foray into the world of online conspiracy theories, but insisted she had more recently recognized the falsities and dangers of those narratives.

Greene described how she’d “stumbled across” QAnon in late 2017 and began posting about it on Facebook while she was “upset about things and didn’t trust the government.”

Later in 2018, Greene said, “when I started finding misinformation, lies, things that were not true in these QAnon posts, I stopped believing it.”

Greene also disavowed her previous support for several conspiracy theories, declaring a belief that school shootings are “absolutely real” and that 9/11 “absolutely happened.”

But as Greene concluded her speech, she adopted a more defiant tone, blasting unnamed Democrats for what she suggested was their encouragement of the violence that, at times, accompanied last year’s national protests against police brutality.

“If this Congress is to tolerate members that condone riots that have hurt American people, attack police officers, occupy federal property, burn businesses and cities, but yet wants to condemn me and crucify me in the public square for words that I said, and I regret, a few years ago, then I think we’re in a real big problem,” she said.

Greene also took a shot at the mainstream media, equating the veracity of its information to that espoused by QAnon.

“Will we allow the media, that is just as guilty as QAnon of presenting truth and lies, to divide us?” Greene said.

That promptly drew a rebuke from House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who called the comparison “beyond the pale.”

Greene’s speech was just as notable for what she didn’t say. Greene did not address a primary driver of Thursday’s vote: her repeated indications of support for violence against Democrats.

Greene previously liked a Facebook comment in January 2019 that said “a bullet to the head would be quicker” to remove Pelosi. And when a Facebook commenter asked her in April 2018 “now do we get to hang them,” referring to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Obama, Greene responded: “Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off.”

And last September, Greene posted a photo of herself holding a gun alongside images of progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) with the caption “Squad’s Worst Nightmare.”

McCarthy said he proposed moving Greene from the Education and Labor Committee to the Small Business Committee instead as a possible compromise, given the particular outrage over her skepticism of school shootings. But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Democrats rejected the offer, arguing that Greene shouldn’t have the privilege of sitting on any committees.

McCarthy did take punitive action against former Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) two years ago for making remarks considered racist and booted him from committees.

“If this is the new standard, I look forward to continuing up the standard. Because if you look for a side that has a leadership that’s done something when their members do something as a member, not prior, look to me,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy pledged during House floor debate that he will “hold [Greene] to her words and her actions moving forward.”

While House Republicans rallied behind Greene on Thursday, their Senate counterparts have gone out of their way to distance themselves from her.

Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the second-ranking Senate Republican, warned Thursday that Republicans need to “get away from members dabbling in conspiracy theories.”

“I don’t think that’s a productive course of action or one that’s going to lead to much prosperity politically in the future,” Thune said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this week condemned Greene’s embrace of “loony lies and conspiracy theories” as a “cancer for the Republican Party.”

Democrats have happily embraced those comments, citing them throughout the debate to pressure McCarthy and House Republicans to take action against Greene themselves.

“Why would Kevin McCarthy continue to associate himself and the Republican Conference with someone who Leader Mitch McConnell has characterized as a cancer?” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Caucus. “The last time I checked, cancers need to be cut out and not allowed to metastasize.”

The first-term congresswoman earlier made a floor speech in which she claimed she had ceased to believe in the QAnon conspiracy theory in 2018 and expressed “regret” for some of her earlier statements.

But Greene is hardly going to slink away into backbench obscurity.

She claims to have raised $175,000 in a fundraising appeal this week from 13,000 donors. Her now-infamous Twitter account had more than 345,000 followers by Thursday evening.

The contrition in her floor speech was limited, too. She said nothing about her previous support for the idea of assassinating Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), instead complaining that Democrats were trying to “crucify me in the public square.”

The House vote only happened after Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had declined to take action against Greene.

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Canada to Produce US Vaccine in Montreal

Ottawa (CNN) Canada says it has signed a tentative agreement with US vaccine firm Novavax to produce millions of doses of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate at a facility in Montreal.

The agreement, announced Tuesday by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is the first of several being developed as Canada says it intends to repatriate vaccine production for decades to come.
“What we’re very clear on is Canada will be developing domestic manufacturing, so regardless of what could happen in the future, we will have domestic production on top of all our partnerships and contracts signed with companies around the world,” said Trudeau during a news conference in Ottawa Tuesday.

Trudeau says Canada needs to 'buckle down' as cases surge, vaccines delayed

Trudeau says Canada needs to ‘buckle down’ as cases surge, vaccines delayed
He added that it was important for Canada to be “self-sufficient” in vaccine production.
Novavax is still doing clinical trials of its vaccine but submitted more data to Health Canada for review Friday. Canada has an agreement to buy 52 million doses from Novavax when and if its vaccine candidate receives Canadian approval.
Approval is not expected for weeks and any domestic production of vaccines won’t happen until fall, at the earliest.
That still leaves Canada with a significant shortage of vaccines in the short term. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are the only vaccines so far approved for use in Canada.
Both of those vaccine suppliers have significantly slowed deliveries to Canada after a combination of manufacturing delays and demands from Europe, where Canada procures its doses, to restrict vaccine exports subject to EU approval.
Canada did not attempt to procure any vaccine doses from the US after the Trump administration indicated it would not allow any vaccines to be exported.

Pfizer tells Canada it will not receive any Covid-19 vaccine doses next week

Pfizer tells Canada it will not receive any Covid-19 vaccine doses next week
According to public health data from the provinces and the federal government, just over 2% of Canada’s population has received at least 1 dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Provinces in Canada, who are responsible for vaccine distribution, are growing frustrated as mass vaccination sites are ready, but in many cases sit “empty” awaiting vaccine doses.
“They have the capacity of several thousand each per day and the possibility to ramp up past that so all of us are a little disappointed, a little frustrated, and chomping at the bit to do more and get the vaccines to us,” said retired general Rick Hillier, now leading Ontario’s vaccine task force.
He added that he has lost confidence in the Pfizer supply chain as doses that were promised to Canada were not delivered.

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