(John Paul Tasker/ CBC News) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced that the federal government has chosen a senior military commander to lead its COVID-19 vaccine distribution effort as the country prepares for a massive inoculation campaign.
Trudeau said Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the current chief of staff to the Canadian Joint Operations Command and a former commander of the NATO mission in Iraq, will head up vaccine logistics and operations within a new branch of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).
Beyond his extensive overseas service, Fortin also was involved in planning the CAF missions in pandemic-hit long-term care homes over the summer. The harrowing reports the soldiers produced after working in those homes caused the federal government to draft new directives on seniors’ care.
Trudeau said the government is creating a new military-supported hub within PHAC — the National Operations Centre — to help coordinate the deployment of millions of vaccine doses over the coming months. (…)