Evidence of meeting #17 for Health in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vaccines.
A video is available from Parliament.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
When do you think they'll allow us to get doses from their plants?
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
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.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
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?
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
Anita Anand Liberal Oakville, ON
We continue to scour the globe for doses, including in the United States and around the world.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
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?
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
Anita Anand Liberal Oakville, ON
I am in regular communication with organizations and countries around the world to secure doses of additional vaccines.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
Anita Anand Liberal Oakville, ON
I personally have not phoned Prime Minister Modi, and I can't speak for anyone else in our government.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Does the minister know if the Prime Minister has reached out to the Indian government?
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
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?
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
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.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
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?
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
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.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
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.
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
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—
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
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.
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
I just want to know if that can be tabled with the committee.
February 5th, 2021 / 3:05 p.m.
Liberal
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.
3:10 p.m.
Liberal
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.
3:10 p.m.
Conservative
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?
3:10 p.m.
Liberal
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—
