Evidence of meeting #19 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 recording is available from Parliament.
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
Mr. Chair, the modelling that was presented today is looking at projections for the number of cases that could be expected, based on a number of different conditions.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Could you please table with committee the conditions you had made assumptions on with regard to your modelling today?
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Thank you.
If Canada at the federal level had a vigorous rollout plan for the deployment of rapid tests, would that change the modelling you presented today?
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
We will return to you with the number of inputs that go into these models to be remitted.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Do you think it's concerning you can't answer that question at this hearing today?
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
Mr. Chair, the models that are presented are a number of complex modelling exercises that involve a number of different inputs. It is difficult to—
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
They include reproductive numbers and they include a number of trends, as well as the interplay of the rollout of vaccination and expected and diffuse transmission patterns, therefore it is difficult to tease apart individual assumptions at the moment.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Why is Canada's modelling for the spread of the variants so different from that of other countries? Why do we show such a greater trend, as opposed to models that have been recently released in, let's say, the EU or the U.S.?
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
Mr. Chair, the models that are presented involve a number of different scenarios, including working for variants of concern in a range of potential increased transmissibility. The model that was presented today involved a 50% increase in transmissibility over the wild-type strain.
Conservative
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
The interplay of testing with the number of cases is a different action.
Conservative
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
We will return to you with the full set of assumptions modelled today.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Did the inclusion of unapproved vaccine candidates factor into your modelling today?
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
Of unapproved vaccines?
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Yes, like AstraZeneca or J&J, or were you just assuming we were proceeding with the existing schedules of Pfizer and Moderna?
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
The interplay of the vaccines involves a number of different assumptions, and we will return to you with those.
February 19th, 2021 / 3:20 p.m.
Conservative
Acting Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
We go now to Dr. Powlowski.
Dr. Powlowski, please go ahead for six minutes.