WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is asking the United States government to let states ship COVID-19 vaccines to provinces.

Pallister says North Dakota has excess vaccines it is willing to share but has not received permission to export them to Manitoba.

While the United States has exported vaccines on a country-to-country basis, Pallister says allowing individual states to export would speed things up.

He says Manitoba has trucks with freezers that could make the one-hour trip to the border and pick up vaccines.

Pallister says he has written to the White House about the issue, but has not yet received a reply.

Manitoba is in the grip of a severe third wave of the pandemic and has started to transfer some intensive care patients to Ontario.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2021

The Canadian Press