It was gratifying to hear the head of Pfizer Canada tell us that Pfizer is focused on selling the much needed but limited doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to governments and not private corporations.
The head honcho at Pfizer Canada is company president Cole Pinnow, and he told Mercedes Stephenson on Global’s The West Block that Pfizer wants to ensure that the vaccine gets to the people who need it most. He said the company feels that governments are best suited to do that.
![Click to play video: 'Head of Pfizer Canada says current Canadian policies stalling domestic pharmaceutical innovation'](https://i0.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/news/19ocllfqgj-c83tsqz7gy/PFIZERWB.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
The question was prompted by a report late last week that the NHL was exploring the idea of buying enough vaccines to inoculate NHL players for their upcoming season.
How selfish is that?
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Did the NHL think that Canadians and Americans would be OK with the first doses of this precious vaccine going to hockey players instead of the residents of long term care facilities and the vulnerable with pre-existing medical conditions? How insensitive and self-absorbed are these greedy, out-of-touch NHL owners?
![Click to play video: 'Coronavirus: Government can’t stop corporations from buying vaccines for their employees, says Hajdu'](https://i0.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/news/mtedgw0ndi-ja0n34fvul/minister_hajdu_vaccine_nhl.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
After immense backlash, the NHL did some feeble damage control and said what the league really meant to say was, it would like to buy vaccines after there was enough for everyone else.
Nice try!
Good on Pfizer for honouring its government contracts to ensure that the people who need it most get it first, and shame on the NHL for thinking it could buy its way to the front of the line.
Bill Kelly is the host of the Bill Kelly Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML.
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