WATCH: Liberal MP admits Trudeau govt has been ‘behind the curve every time’ in pandemic response

Quoting Executive Director and WHO Health Emergencies Program Dr. Michael Ryan, Turnbull said that Canada "can't afford to be staring in the rear-view mirror."

"We need to be ahead of the curve of this pandemic," he said. "Curve after curve, wave after wave, we as Canadians have been behind. We're not in front of this. And Dr. Duncan said this so elegantly, but I believe it wholeheartedly, too. We are behind the curve every time. We need to move faster."

Turnbull had previously suggested criminal charges for provincial officials who lift lockdown measures.

While Turnbull can admit that the Liberals have not met expectations, the prime minister cannot.

During a press conference on April 21, Trudeau said that he had no regrets over his government's handling of the procurement and rollout of vaccines.

When asked directly if there was anything in retrospect that the prime minister would consider a mistake, or he wishes he would've acted earlier on, Trudeau responded: "No, not in terms of our vaccine rollout. Obviously, we worked extremely hard from last summer onwards to sign many different contracts with different potential vaccine makers around the world, and we were among the first countries to start getting approved vaccines into arms back in December."

One week earlier, Trudeau said that his government had not acted perfectly in the fight against COVID, saying: "Have we done everything perfect? No. Of course not."