The Liberals are accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government of being responsible for the deaths so far caused by the H1N1 influenza virus.
Liberal MP Bob Rae made the accusations yesterday in the House of Commons where he said government delays in ordering and rolling out the vaccine has "cost and will cost lives."
"There are people who unfortunately have succumbed to the disease," Rae told reporters. "I think it's a reasonable thing to say that if they'd had the vaccine, it's quite possible their lives could have been saved. That's a harsh truth."
ACCUSATION DISMISSED
Industry Minister Tony Clement dismissed the accusation, insisting his government has been working day and night to get the vaccine out.
"There are approximately 6 million doses that will have been delivered by the end of day (Friday)," Clement said. "By the end of the next week, there will be an additional 3 million doses, for a total of 9 million doses for Canadians."
The government says that despite some shortages in parts of the country during the rollout, there will be enough doses for everyone in Canada to get the H1N1 shot.
The notion that a delay in the distribution of the vaccine means Harper's government is responsible for the deaths was also dismissed by the NDP.
'HYPERBOLE'
NDP Leader Jack Layton described the charge as the sort of "hyperbole" he wasn't prepared to "throw around" just to score political points.
"This is a very large undertaking here. We've never tried anything quite this size on such a rapid timeline," Layton said. "I'm not sure that it would have been necessarily feasible" to have got it out sooner.
"I think what people are concerned about is they want to know their families can get vaccinated," said Layton. "We're hearing from the local level that many clinics just don't have the personnel to deal with all of those who are showing up with questions and to administer the vaccine."
Layton says the federal government needs to tell the provinces and municipalities responsible for vaccinating people to hire more staff, rent more premises and buy more equipment.
"The federal government should come forward with a plan and indicate a very clear willingness right from the get-go that whatever's needed locally to get those vaccines into the arms of the people who want them is going to be financed," said Layton.
PETER.ZIMONJIC@SUNMEDIA.CA 
