Fortin steps down from COVID vaccine rollout pending military investigation

OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – The man in charge of Canada’s vaccine rollout has been forced to step aside due to a “military investigation.”

In a statement released late Friday night, a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence said Major-General Dany Fortin had left his assignment with the Public Health Agency of Canada, pending the results of the investigation.

“Acting Chief of the Defence Staff, Lieutenant-General Eyre will be reviewing next steps with Major-General Fortin. We will have no further comment,” read the brief statement.

No further details were provided as to the nature of the investigation.

Fortin was picked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to lead the logistical rollout the COVID-19 vaccine across Canada in November 2020.

He was involved in planning the CAF missions that went into long-term care homes in pandemic-hit centres last summer. The harrowing reports the soldiers produced after working in those homes led the federal government to draft new directives on seniors’ care.

Fortin most recently served as the chief of staff for the Canadian Joint Operations Command. He was also commander of the NATO military training mission in Iraq from November 2018 until late 2019. That followed several leadership posts in Afghanistan the previous decade, and on NATO and United Nations missions to Bosnia in the 1990s.

More to come