Thank you, Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Health, for inviting me to speak to you today.
The Government of Canada has taken a whole-of-government approach in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every day we are achieving important milestones in Canada's vaccine rollout. In just five weeks, we have doubled the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses given across Canada, from 10 million doses administered by mid-April to almost 20 million doses administered to date. As of May 15, 55% of eligible adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
As outlined in Canada's COVID-19 immunization plan, the goal throughout our campaign has been to enable as many Canadians as possible to be immunized as quickly as possible against COVID-19 while ensuring that high-risk populations are prioritized. In doing so, we will reduce serious illness and death while minimizing societal disruption.
To meet these goals, we have conscientiously relied on the accumulating scientific data, the emerging evidence and the guidance of public health experts to inform our decisions, strategies and recommendations. The Public Health Agency of Canada's vaccine rollout task force has been guided by committees of immunization experts such as the National Advisory Committee on Immunization and through close collaboration with provincial and territorial partners.
Grounding our approach in public health science and equity resulted in the identification of priority populations and the extended dose strategy currently in place. These strategies have been instrumental in meeting our public health goals and maximizing protection both for at-risk groups and the population overall.
Although the national daily number of COVID-19 cases remains high as we continue to feel the effects of a variant-driven third wave, there is reason to be optimistic, as public health measures are demonstrating an impact and vaccination coverage broadens. Over the past seven days, there has been a more than 25% decrease in daily cases, and compared to last week, the number of patients in hospitals has dropped by 10%. Nationally, deaths have decreased by 15% compared to last week.
The success of vaccinating priority populations first, specifically people 70 years of age and older and those living in congregate settings, is borne out by the observation that this age group has the lowest case rate nationally, and its hospitalization rate is also decreasing.
While nationally all age groups are seeing a decline in case rates, people aged 20 to 39 years old now represent the highest rate of infection. As additional age groups become eligible to book vaccines in different jurisdictions across the country, this highlights the importance of everyone stepping up to get their shot as soon as it becomes available to them.
We are committed to removing barriers to vaccination and building vaccine confidence. The success of the vaccination campaign relies on as many people as possible taking part. We are broadcasting this message loud and clear through the nationwide “Ripple Effect” communications campaign launched this week, which uses multiple multiple mass media formats to encourage vaccine uptake. I, myself, am reaching out to key priority groups such as personal support workers and key influencers such as faith leaders and YouTube personalities popular amongst younger adults.
The good news is that a strong majority of adults in Canada have indicated an intention to become vaccinated. However, despite this encouraging finding, we know that we must sustain our pace of vaccination even as coverage rates climb. As case rates come down and there is pressure to relax health measures, there remains a risk that those who face barriers to accessing vaccines will be left behind.
In this regard, community-based efforts to encourage vaccination will be crucial in the coming months. We know from experience that those approaches are effective. For instance, we have seen positive results in vaccine uptake using approaches that engage indigenous leaders and supporting, for instance, urban vaccine clinics operated by indigenous organizations, and we have seen success in reaching racialized and marginalized communities with information about vaccines by engaging individuals in their own languages and on platforms they already use.
Through dedicated funding, we are doing more to support the efforts of those with the expertise and capacity to promote vaccine confidence in their communities, especially in those communities experiencing health and social inequities or that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The immunization partnership fund has provided $3 million per year since 2016, supporting 22 projects to increase vaccine uptake. In 2020 an additional $30.25 million was confirmed to fund more than 100 projects focused on capacity for health care providers and community-based programs, specifically social media campaigns, targeted resources and frontline interventions.
The vaccine community innovation challenge, funded with $1.5 million, supports projects in diverse communities to help spread the word about vaccines, increasing vaccine confidence through creative, community-driven and culturally appropriate means.
There is reason to be hopeful as we begin to feel the impacts of widening vaccine coverage across Canada, but we're not yet in the clear. Long-range modelling suggests that new cases will continue to decrease if current measures are sustained. We have an important window of opportunity to bring COVID-19 under control in Canada very soon, but it requires two key actions. The first is getting vaccinated as soon as it is possible to do so. The second is continuing to follow public health measures until it is truly safe for them to be relaxed. These two elements will provide the vaccination campaign the environment it needs to yield the highest possible results to protect Canadians and support the reopening that we all so eagerly await.
Thank you.
