I call this meeting to order.
Welcome, everyone, to meeting number 19 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.
The committee is meeting today to study the emergency situation facing Canadians in light of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I would like to welcome the witnesses.
From the national advisory committee on immunization, we have Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh, chair and professor, Université de Montréal.
From the Public Health Agency of Canada, we have Stephen Bent, director general; Kimberly Elmslie, senior vice-president; Bersabel Ephrem, director general, Centre for Communicable Disease and Infection Control; Cindy Evans, vice-president, emergency management; Dr. Guillaume Poliquin, acting scientific director general; and Dr. Roman Szumski, senior vice-president, COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics acquisitions.
I would just summarize that the above witnesses are asked to present on the following: (a) current outbreaks, occurrences and modelling for COVID-19 variant spread in Canada as it relates to projected vaccination rollout timelines; (b) capacity to surveil the emergency prevalence and spread of variants; (c) current federal government assumptions regarding vaccine effectiveness on variants in the context of the federal government's vaccine portfolio and (d) Canada's procurement of variant-related booster shots.
According to the motion that requested this panel, I will ask Dr. Quach-Thanh to speak for up to seven minutes followed by the Public Health Agency of Canada for up to 15 minutes.
Dr. Quach-Thanh, please go ahead for seven minutes.