Exclusive: Will Canada survive the next pandemic?
We aren't ready. Progress is slow, our medical system is splintering, and we might not be able to produce enough vaccines.
Another pandemic is inevitable. If it struck tomorrow, Canada would be woefully unprepared—potentially worse than in 2020. Our vaccine research lags behind major economies, PPE supply chains are fractured, and international alliances are broken.
“With the impacts we are having on our natural world– deforestation, our direct linkage with animals both domestic and wild, and globalization– pandemics will be more frequent going forward”, Dr. Srinivas Murthy, a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia said.
No one can predict exactly when the next virus will develop. A global measles outbreak is already underway; Canada recorded more cases between January to March 2025 than it did for the entirety of 2024. We have officially lost our measles elimination status.
In the United States, vaccination rates are falling, and compulsory vaccination is being removed. The United States is likely to become a major exporter of preventable diseases in the coming years.
Meanwhile, vaccination rates are declining as far-right groups spread baseless conspiracies, and anti-vaccination has gained a global platform to undermine life saving vaccines, thanks to RFK Junior becoming the health secretary of the US government.
Millions have died, and continue dying worldwide due to COVID-19. Many continue to succumb to complications from the virus. For the first time, mRNA vaccines were produced in Canada this September. We remain dangerously vulnerable to another emergency, and despite the federal government talking about our sovereignty at length, they have blinders on to anything except “ECONOMY” as the tool for sovereignty. The country failed to respond effectively to the pandemic. No vaccine research came to fruition, and we lacked the capacity to produce mRNA vaccines. Now we can produce them, but our preparedness is still uncertain.
