Ontario Premier Doug Ford went from voicing his frustrations to picking up the phone Tuesday, calling up Pfizer Canada President Cole Pinnow, after news the company would be deferring next week's shipment of doses to Canada.
"He reiterated the serious impact these cancelled shipments will have on Ontario and sought answers as to why Canada isn’t receiving vaccines as quickly as other countries," a statement from Ford's office said regarding the call.
The day before, Ford didn't want to cast blame on the Trudeau government, but did say a stronger effort had to be made regarding communication with manufacturers.
"We're part of the G7, we're a major player in the world," he said. "We've got to be on these guys like a blanket."
In a company statement regarding the call, a Pfizer Canada spokesperson said Ford's concerns were listened to.
"We recognized that it has made it more difficult to smoothly advance the scale up of the immunization program in Ontario and throughout Canada," the statement said. "We reiterated this is a short-term situation and our focus is on meeting quarterly commitments. We agreed to keep him and General Hillier informed of any further developments."
The federal government has faced criticism for its early vaccine rollout, with federal officials often responding that Canada secured seven different manufacturing contracts and more doses per capita than most countries.
The Liberals have also said that despite the disruption, the country is still on schedule to meet its Q1 target of 3 million Canadians vaccinated by the end of March.
However, Canada is behind other countries in early rollout, such as Israel, UAE, Bahrain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked Tuesday what he's doing to make sure contracts are respected, in light of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he had spoken to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla directly 17 times, as well as the head of the European Union making direct contact as well.
"The companies are respecting the contracts that we've signed, we will receive the doses that were committed by the end of Q1," he said. "We continue to work every day reaching out to the top level of vaccine companies, including myself being involved, to ensure that we are getting the doses we need.
But in an interview with CBC NEWS later in the day, Minister of Public Services and Procurement Anita Anand could not say if Trudeau had spoken to Bourla himself.