NDP MP Don Davies, the party's health critic, agreed that some sort of public option for vaccine production is prudent but the government's handling of the NRC facility has been "a major failure."
He said it suggests Ottawa has a "serious credibility issue."
"We are two years plus into this pandemic and we still aren't producing a single dose of a vaccine in this country. It's a policy fail, an accountability fail and a credibility fail," he said in an interview with CBC News.