Health Committee on May 21st, 2021

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I just want to make sure I understand this. Maybe I have it wrong. We have a passenger flying to Canada from Brazil. They going to land in, say, Calgary. They have to hotel quarantine. But if that passenger instead changes their ticket to fly to Montana and then drives across, the hotel quarantine rule does not apply to them.

If I understand you correctly, you think that jives with our policy design. Can you explain that to me again, why the hotel quarantine rule applies to one but not the other?

[Iain Stewart]

Yes, I can. The person flying in from Brazil would have to land in Montana. They'd have to stop. They actually have to get a PCR test in the United States before they even come to the border. They have to show up at the border with a negative PCR test. Then they have to do a day one test. They have to go into quarantine for 14 days and they have to do a day eight test.

So the full testing and quarantine regime pertains, but because they're not going to do a connector flight through an international flight into one of our four airports, the GAA hotel there's less of a public health benefit for.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

But isn't the whole point of the hotel quarantining to protect Canadians, to have an extra buffer, so that the passenger stays in a hotel after they land here? Is that not the point of quarantining?

Obviously, you can't protect the people on the airplane, because they've already been on the airplane. The quarantine in the hotel happens after they've entered Canada. Am I missing something there?

[Iain Stewart]

It's the connector flight. If somebody flies in from Brazil, they land in Toronto. They get tested. They have to wait to get the result before we let them get on another public conveyance of Canadians. If they show up at the airport, therefore, they're at risk of exposing others, because they're going to use other conveyances. So that's the GAA; that's the benefit for international air flights. If they're going to fly into the U.S., they have to land. They have to get a brand new PCR test right there. It has to be negative before they can even enter the country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Davies.

We're starting our third round of questions.

Ms. Rempel Garner, please go ahead for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Dr. Lucas, 11 days ago David Musyj, the CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital, applied through Health Canada's special access program to have excess vaccines from Detroit, which are currently going to waste, delivered to his hospital for use in Windsor. By what date do you expect your department to approve this request?

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

I don't have that information at hand on that request. As has been noted, there are vaccines available in Canada and being distributed across the country.

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

The name, Dr. Lucas, of your employee who's working on the file is Mary Morgan. You might want to get her on the phone after this.

Do you have any idea about this request? Like, are you tracking it at all? It's a fairly significant one. It's made the media quite a bit in the last 24 hours.

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

I am aware, Mr. Chair, but I don't have the specific details on the follow-up. As I had conveyed, the—

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

Would you commit to perhaps phoning Dr. Musyj this afternoon to deal with this request? It's been 11 days.

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

I will follow up with the program, Mr. Chair, but what I would say is that the special access program is designed for accessing medications that aren't authorized for use in the country. It's a unique program. The vaccines are—

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

Vaccines are going into the garbage today in Detroit. They want to send them to Canada, because they're about to be wasted, but....

This is a great segue to my next line of questions.

Dr. Stewart, you implied there were enough vaccines in Canada right now, that there were 20 million vaccines, and that there were plenty of pathways to get a vaccine for Canadians. What would you tell somebody who has signed up for an appointment in Ontario but is waiting for a month, who perhaps is a frontline worker? Do you think that's an adequate pathway to get a vaccine?

[Iain Stewart]

Mr. Chair and honourable member, just while we were talking, we were looking at Vaccines Hunter for Windsor. There are vacancies available right now in the city of Windsor for those seeking vaccination.

Of course, in any program where you're increasing the number of vaccines available in a jurisdiction—

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

Thank you.

[Iain Stewart]

—there's going to be a period—

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

You do realize, however, that—

[Iain Stewart]

Sorry.

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

I just don't accept the assertion that we have enough vaccines in Canada right now. We're essentially on a nationwide lockdown, waiting, and some people are being told they will have to wait four months between vaccinations.

NACI has approved a four-month dosing, so I find it problematic that the head of PHAC thinks that we have adequate supply in Canada right now and that we shouldn't be pursuing every option for Canadians to get vaccinated. I mean, Vaccine Hunters is not going to enable every Canadian to get a second dose. It's just, frankly, preposterous and arrogant to make that comment.

I will continue.

Do you believe, Mr. Stewart, that a physician telling a Canadian, or writing a note, to go get a vaccine in the U.S. is not medically necessary, based on your comments that you made earlier?

[Iain Stewart]

What I said was that there were 23 million vaccines in the country. I don't know that I said that was sufficient.

We, ourselves, like to pursue additional doses, and we work closely with the PSPC and Minister Anand for opportunities to increase the overall supply.

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

Thank you.

[Iain Stewart]

However, the rate of vaccination—

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

If a physician, for the purposes of—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Ms. Rempel Garner, would you please let the witness—

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

This is my time. This is my time.

For the purposes of the OIC—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Ms. Rempel Garner, please let the witness answer. I will allow time—