Feds seek more COVID vaccines despite crashing demand, $1B in waste, and procurement scandals
Despite the dwindling demand and past waste, the federal government is seeking to acquire additional COVID-19 vaccines.
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is moving ahead with plans to stockpile even more COVID-19 vaccines—despite widespread disinterest from Canadians and a staggering track record of waste and failed contracts.
A new Request for Proposals (RFP), quietly posted to the government’s procurement portal, seeks suppliers to provide vaccines for multiple formats and age groups—from six months old to adults. Contracts could run through March 2026 with an option to extend into 2027.
But this new push comes after the federal government already discarded more than 31 million expired doses, costing taxpayers an estimated $1 billion. Vaccine uptake has also plummeted, with only 11% of Canadians opting for a booster in the last campaign.
One now-infamous example is the Medicago vaccine debacle, in which Ottawa signed a deal with a Quebec-based firm developing a vaccine with backing from tobacco giant Philip Morris. The partnership drew condemnation from the World Health Organization, which refused to approve the vaccine due to its ties to Big Tobacco.
The result? The contract collapsed, and the vaccine was ultimately scrapped—another black mark on Ottawa’s pandemic purchasing spree.
Despite those failures, the government is again preparing to issue multi-year contracts for vaccines that Canadians have shown little interest in receiving.
The full RFP is available on MERX.

Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.

COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-05-07 23:34:25 -0400I can believe this because I used to work for the federal government. They order a thousand, use a dozen, and throw the rest away. These bureaucrats don’t feel the pain because it isn’t their money being wasted. We could have had a government dedicated to cutting waste but greedy Liberal boomers wanted free stuff instead of freedom.