I'm an adopted prairie boy, for sure.
Thank you very much for the questions. It's a good list.
First, in terms of relationships with other departments and deputies, there are the deputy-level relations I have on the committee that's specific to pandemics. But I also sit on other deputy committees that relate to public health, safety, and other public health aspects. We have regular discussions.
Also, when it comes to planning and thinking about pandemics, there are at least three departments that are really key: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, as well as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, us in Health Canada, and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. And then there are other departments, too, depending on the issues. For example, there is Environment Canada, as it relates to wild birds, and others. So I think that's something that seems to be, from my perspective, working well and is very collaborative.
This isn't a plug, but I must say that I'm really impressed with the commitment of the people I deal with and their interest in engaging and addressing these issues. It's not just within government, but as I go across the country and internationally, there's a very different spirit about collaboration, the need to work together, and the recognition that none of us can do this alone. That's the positive.
In terms of preparation, it's important to make the distinction between the bird flu, the H5N1 Asian that we're seeing, and a pandemic of human flu. The bird flu is continuing to spread around the world. We don't know when we'll see it in wild birds in Canada; it may be as soon as this fall. That clearly is an agricultural issue. It's a biosecurity issue in terms of poultry flocks, contact with wild birds, and the risk to poultry flocks. It is a smaller issue, but a present issue, for humans, because we see a very small percentage of humans who get sick as a result of contact. It's from fairly extensive contact--and in a very small percentage of people--with this bird virus. It's not as if there's wild bird flu, and suddenly we're going to have all kinds of people sick.
So preparations continue from an agricultural perspective, but also with us working very closely with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and CFIA, including giving advice, in terms of the human implications. So if they do have to cull flocks, what's the best way to protect the workers who are having to deal with that?
Regarding the pandemic of influenza, no one knows, quite honestly. Nature is very inventive. The H5N1 may mutate, but that would require several steps. Or it could recombine with a human virus, which is a typical development of a pandemic of influenza, so that you have a new virus that none of our immune systems recognize that spreads quickly around the world. That's unpredictable, and that's why the work internationally, the work of the Global Public Health Intelligence Network and the work of the WHO with partner agencies around the world for surveillance, early identification, and control is critical.
Generally, as the minister said, Canada is looked at as probably one of the most comprehensively prepared in terms of planning, but we still have a lot of work to do. Even with all the preparation, emergencies and epidemics are full of surprises. To say that nobody will ever have a problem.... No one could ever say that. But what we can assure people is that each month we are better prepared than the month before. Our capacity in the last budget, in the budget processes, will help to ensure that Canadians are in a position to look at a very difficult, challenging situation and hopefully reduce it from a major problem to one we can manage and move forward from.
In terms of Tamiflu, we currently have in the country in government hands—not private hands, because there's a lot more in private hands and in hospitals, and so on—about 37 million doses, which is enough to treat 3.7 million people. As the minister was saying, there is a meeting of FPT ministers this weekend, and one of the things they will be considering is the next level we should consider for Canada.
The thing that's unique about Canada...well, there are two things. Often people say that WHO says 25%. The WHO never said that. What the WHO has said is that countries that can afford it as part of their comprehensive planning should include antivirals as part of that. We've done that.
The advantage we have is a vaccine program. We have a domestic manufacturer that can produce enough vaccine to protect all Canadians, so we need the antivirals—if they work, which we don't know if they will—to reduce the impact in the first wave, and then we have the vaccine. Maybe one other country in the world has that capacity, and that's what will really stop it. That's why it's a combined strategy that's important.
