Thank you.
I have the enviable position of being last in this committee, so I always get to ask the last question. I want to end with something.
I spoke to a doctor who has been working very hard on this work, Dr. Madhukar Pai, a professor and Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health. I asked him what he wanted me to ask the experts today. He expressed deep dismay that we are studying vaccine equity right now, but in fact we should be in a situation where vaccine equity is a reality because we are two years into this pandemic. He is deeply concerned about the BA.2 variant, the potential for future variants, the potential for impacts on Canadians and the potential for people around the world.
He has stated very clearly that Canada should have already donated our 200 million doses, that we should have already backed the TRIPS waiver and that we should have already ramped up vaccine production.
What has been the biggest impediment to Canada fulfilling its promises? We did promise the 200 million doses. We did not achieve that. We have repeatedly said that we are open to engage on intellectual property, but we have done nothing to waive intellectual property rights, even temporarily. CAMR is still inaccessible.
It's two years in. Why has Canada shown such limited understanding of the urgency of this issue with regard to the impacts on Canadians and the impacts on people around the world?