Health Committee on Feb. 5th, 2021

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

When do you think they'll allow us to get doses from their plants?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As I said, the Biden administration is coming into play and continuing to evaluate their situation. They are having conversations with us and other international partners to see what is possible, but we have been told that at the current time all doses are staying in the United States. This is why we made sure to have doses coming out of Europe, which we've been able to get.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you.

Would it be accurate to say there's no hope for us to get U.S. doses for Q1?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

We continue to scour the globe for doses, including in the United States and around the world.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

On that note, has the minister or the Prime Minister phoned Prime Minister Modi to ask if we could get vaccines from India?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I am in regular communication with organizations and countries around the world to secure doses of additional vaccines.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Have we phoned Prime Minister Modi?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I personally have not phoned Prime Minister Modi, and I can't speak for anyone else in our government.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Does the minister know if the Prime Minister has reached out to the Indian government?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I do not know.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

She doesn't know. That's frightening.

Has the Minister of Health asked for advice from the chief of defence, or asked for a plan to be developed, to direct the military to set up military-run vaccine distribution centres?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

No, I haven't spoken directly with the chief of defence. As I mentioned earlier in my statement and many time previously, the organization of vaccination in Canada is being coordinated through the national operations centre and Major-General Dany Fortin.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Can the Minister of Health table with the committee, prior to this portion of the study being completed, any work the government has done to ascertain the percentage of Canadians who need to be vaccinated prior to herd immunity being achieved?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Perhaps I can turn to Dr. Tam to talk about the work that's being done to evaluate the effect of vaccination on onward transmission.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I only have a minute left, so I was wondering if you could table any work that's been completed with the committee.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I would like to be able to answer the question, Mr. Chair, and we do have with us the chief public health officer, who's working with a variety of experts around the country and world on vaccination—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I would just like to know if we could have that report or that work tabled with the committee, because it's not going be answered in a minute.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Ms. Rempel Garner, please let the witness answer. We have to—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I just want to know if that can be tabled with the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. Rempel Garner.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

The witnesses have the floor, and we all want to hear from them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. Sidhu.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

We can certainly endeavour to provide a variety of research, global research, on vaccination and what we understand so far.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I want to know this: Does the minister have any idea what percentage of Canadians needs to be vaccinated before herd immunity is achieved in Canada? Do they have a benchmark they working with right now?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Obviously, the more people who are vaccinated in Canada, the more lives that are saved. The vaccination right now—