Evidence of meeting #23 for Health in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was virus.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Tamara Jansen Conservative Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
Is there any other way to develop a COVID-19 vaccine than with this type of cell line?
Full Professor, Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Medical Microbiologist and Epidemiologist, CHU Sainte-Justine, As an Individual
You'd have to ask the scientists. I think that various platforms are being used. Using cell lines is one of those ways. It's not the only vaccine that's using cell lines to replicate a virus. As to whether there are other platforms, there probably are, but this is the first vaccine that is actually ready for human trials.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mrs. Jansen.
Mr. Kelloway, please go ahead for five minutes.
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Hello, colleagues.
I want to thank all the witnesses for being here today.
With each of our committee meetings, I'm learning so much about the science behind the virus and the research being done across the country. It's really interesting to hear directly from the experts.
My question is going to be for everyone. Maybe we can go around the horn, as they say. I'm curious to unpack what more you think we could be doing as a federal government to promote open science and data sharing between organizations to fight this virus together. It could be between organizations. It could be among different levels of governments and organizations. We know that it's more money. We've established that, which is great. It's more investment. I wonder if we can unpack what things we could be doing better right now and as we approach a second wave of COVID or perhaps a third.
Someone feel free to start, and then we'll just rotate around the square.
Full Professor, Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Medical Microbiologist and Epidemiologist, CHU Sainte-Justine, As an Individual
I guess I can start.
As I said, I think one of the things that we see is that even surveillance definitions are not harmonized across the country, which makes data difficult to compare. If we could at least have an understanding of what we're talking about in terms of what a death due to COVID is, what's not a death, what a case is.... These are basic things. To do that, because we're a federation of provinces and territories, we all need to sit around that table and make sure that we all agree. It would also be great to have a central repository of data to allow for a good understanding of what's happening in Canada, more than looking at various little points that are available everywhere.
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
You're suggesting common literacy, a central repository.
Full Professor, Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Medical Microbiologist and Epidemiologist, CHU Sainte-Justine, As an Individual
Absolutely.
As Dr. Tremblay said, it's hard to do it as we speak, but I think that, to promote long-term collaborations, building infrastructure today that will help us tomorrow to be able to collaborate is something that needs to be done. We have a tendency to try to come up with an infrastructure out of a hat when we need it, but that doesn't work. We have to have learned to work together before, to be able to share data, to know who to call upon if we need help. It doesn't happen by clicking your fingers.
Liberal
Professor, Department of Microbiology, Infectiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, As an Individual
I agree with what Caroline just said. I was also pointing out the necessity to be more acute on the artificial intelligence. We don't use enough of these tools that could help bring together the research community in all kinds of different ways. You have those tools that are used for surveillance. They need to be improved. There needs to be a next generation for that. If we harmonize these tools across Canada, that's going to be very helpful, but more than that, more...other artificial intelligence. We all learned how to communicate through Zoom during this pandemic, so let's think of next steps in terms of communications among researchers.
The other thing is that, right now, everybody is publishing open access. That's fine, but it's going to stop some time. It's still going to cost a researcher $3,000 to pay for a publication because you know that to be published you need to pay now. It's not just that your paper is good; you need to have the money to pay for publication. Something should be done about that to allow for more easy ways to communicate scientific information.
These are a few things.
Acting Vice-President, Research, McMaster University, As an Individual
Certainly at the level of being a vice-president of research, we've had many conversations with the U15 and with Dr. Mona Nemer about the need for a strategy across Canada, a strategy for big science, to fund and have a strategy for infrastructure so that it's not relying on these one-off CFI applications, and also, then, across the country, the need to really think about big science and how you fund long-term big science infrastructure.
Those are conversations that are ongoing. I think a crisis like this just really articulates how important those conversations are.
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
It's longer-term funding, then, and not necessarily just focused on project by project?
Acting Vice-President, Research, McMaster University, As an Individual
Yes, and coordinated, coordinated as a Canadian strategy and not just centred on who has the loudest voice and what university can get there first, but a coordinated strategy.
Liberal
Mike Kelloway Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
I've worked at a university. I don't know what you're talking about when you talk about loud voices in university, but thank you.
I'm sorry that I didn't get to you, Dr. Wright, but I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. Kelloway.
We go now to Dr. Kitchen, please, for five minutes.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Thank you, Chair, and thank you again to everybody.
We've heard a lot from you about data collection and the challenges. We've heard from other witnesses about the challenges of data collection, including maybe the lack of provision of that data and oftentimes the imperfect data that epidemiologists and scientists have to make their decisions on. I'm glad to hear from you that there is at least some effort there and that people are trying to communicate that.
I saw today that VIDO-InterVac, out of the University of Saskatchewan, just announced on their study of testing a vaccine on ferrets that they're finding some positive results, in order, hopefully, as they go through those steps, to step forward into human testing.
Just recently, Health Canada approved the first serological test on the use of detected antibodies in those who had contracted or may have contracted COVID-19. Do you know how many immunity tests may have been performed on front-line health care workers in Canada? I'm just wondering if any of the researchers would know that.
Full Professor, Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Medical Microbiologist and Epidemiologist, CHU Sainte-Justine, As an Individual
Are you asking how many have been done at this point in time?
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Yes. Are you aware of any that may have been done on front-line health care workers specifically?
Full Professor, Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Medical Microbiologist and Epidemiologist, CHU Sainte-Justine, As an Individual
As far as I know, the tests are still being validated in the various labs, so testing has not started per se. I know that it is one of the priorities of the immunity task groups to know what is the prevalence in health care workers. I know that there was a group in B.C. that tested health care workers to look at that sort of prevalence, but across Canada, for something that's pan-Canadian, we don't have data yet.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Okay. Thanks. I'm not aware of any, but that's good to see.
Hopefully, that's a group that serological testing is going to be focused on. Would you agree with me?
Full Professor, Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Medical Microbiologist and Epidemiologist, CHU Sainte-Justine, As an Individual
It is, I reassure you.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
That's great.
On May 2, New York state announced the results of a completed antibody testing study of 15,000 people. Are you aware of that study, Dr. Quach-Thanh?
Full Professor, Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Medical Microbiologist and Epidemiologist, CHU Sainte-Justine, As an Individual
Yes, I've seen it.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
You have seen it. Do you have any opinion on it or any conclusions at all from that study that you might want to share?