The backbone of the federal pandemic flu plan, which was to be released yesterday, is a contract to buy enough vaccine to inoculate all Canadians. But a question mark is hanging over the future of the vaccine manufacturer, which its British owner is trying to divest, reported Canadian Press Feb. 11. \"The only way to guarantee supply is to own the supply. If we don't have that, then we are at the mercy of the companies and what they're going to do. And the only backup we have is how strong is the contract,'' noted Dr. Joel Lexchin<\/STRONG>, a professor of health policy at York University\u2019s Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, who is a keen observer of the activities of pharmaceutical companies. \"In that respect, certainly, putting everything onto one company is a gamble.'' Unless the vaccine is made in Canada, there can be no guarantee the federal government could take delivery. \"Even if we have a contract, if the manufacturing capacity is not onshore, then (the) other government might say: 'Well, you know, we're sorry. You do have a contract. But we are going to pass legislation that allows this company to break the contract. And you can sue us', '' Lexchin said.<\/P> Multicultural Week coverage<\/STRONG><\/P> The Canadian Jewish News<\/I> featured alumni Adina Libin <\/B>(BA \u201903) and Rhoda Dinardo<\/B> (BA \u201902) in a photo Feb. 12 of Multicultural Week festivities at York University. The week-long festival featured booths from more than 60 student clubs and offered food, crafts, cultural exhibits and entertainment.<\/P> On air<\/P><\/B> Dr. Joel Lexchin, a professor of health policy at York University, says relying on contracts to supply vaccine in the event of a flu pandemic is a gamble...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"yfileauthor":[],"qualifier":[],"yfile-author":[],"tags-to-show":[],"workflow":[],"class_list":["post-2384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-york-in-the-media"],"acf":{"internal_publish_date":null,"original_image":null},"yoast_head":"\n
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