Health Committee on May 21st, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I know it's hard with two and a half minutes allotted.

We're going now into our fourth round. We'll start with Mr. Barlow.

Mr. Barlow, please go ahead for five minutes.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I want to pick up on some of the questions that my colleague Mr. Davies had, specifically to the Janssen vaccine.

Dr. Lucas, when do you anticipate that we'll be receiving more doses of the Janssen vaccine?

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

Mr. Chair, I'm going to direct that question to Bill Matthews.

[Bill Matthews]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There are a couple of points, but the shorter answer is that we can't confirm a shipment date just yet because those dates are very much caught up in that ongoing review that Dr. Lucas already mentioned of the Emergent facility. Until that facility is cleared from a regulatory perspective, we're on hold in terms of a schedule.

We can update the committee once we have further information.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Do you have any idea, then, when the USFDA investigation will be complete and Health Canada will be able to make a decision on whether or not to release the doses of the Janssen vaccine received in late April?

[Bill Matthews]

Mr. Chair, I will kick that back to Dr. Lucas.

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

I don't have a specific answer. The USFDA is continuing its work. We're working closely with them as well as doing our own assessment. We'll make a decision as soon as we have all the facts and the USFDA has concluded its work.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

With that in mind, Dr. Lucas, we've seen some provinces make some unilateral decisions on whether or not to provide the AstraZeneca vaccine to their constituents.

Have we had any of the provinces signal to Health Canada that they do not intend to use the Janssen vaccine when it too is available?

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

Mr. Chair, I'm not aware of any such instances, but I'll turn to my colleague Iain Stewart, who has direct contact with the provinces on vaccine orders.

[Iain Stewart]

Thank you for the question. Actually, Mr. Chair, Dr. Tam may have insight on this as well.

I'll just state, to answer your question, that we've had no communications that I've received that they have no intention to use Janssen, were it available.

Dr. Tam may have a more complete answer, so I'll turn to her.

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

Mr. Chair, at the last discussions amongst chief medical officers of health, I haven't heard any specific discussions about not using the Janssen vaccine. We are waiting for—

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

That's good. I just want to know if there have been any concerns raised.

I want to switch gears—and thanks, Dr. Tam. I didn't mean to cut you off; I just have a limited amount of time.

Mr. Stewart, page 20 of the first interim report of the COVID alert apps advisory council states:

The Council acknowledges that the Government of Canada has consulted Statistics Canada regarding any data of value they may be collecting.

What data is being referred to here?

That question is for either Dr. Lucas or Mr. Stewart.

[Iain Stewart]

Thank you.

Off the top of my head, Mr. Chair, I don't know the citation you are referencing, but it may be that either Theresa or Stephen does, so I'll open it up that way, if I may.

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

I'm not aware of the specific citation, but, Mr. Chair, we could follow up with a specific answer in regard to the question.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Well, then, Dr. Lucas, we've been told from the beginning that the COVID alert app wasn't really going to be used to collect any data on Canadians; it was just a matter of keeping track of close contacts and such things. However, the report—the first interim report on the COVID-19 Exposure Notification App Advisory Council—also says:

The Council wants to continue to be engaged in discussions on collection of data, particularly on the viability of data collection given privacy considerations.

It's clear that this app is going to be used to collect data from Canadians. Do you know anything about this and what is being referred to here, in terms of what data will be collected?

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

Mr. Chair, the app has very strong privacy protections. There is no information stored in the cloud; it's strictly on the app.

The app provides information on one-time key issuance; that would be an example of data that can be collected. Any data, however, has no personal identification and no ability to capture it.

I'll need to follow up on the specifics in the report, but there is no data being extracted.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

If you could, please do.

Dr. Lucas, I don't mean to be the contrarian here, but in your first answer you said that you don't know what they're referring to, and now you're telling me that no data could be collected. Clearly, though, this report is saying that discussions are happening on the collection of data.

Could you table with the committee exactly what data may be referenced in this report and also, say, how many Canadians could be affected and what the government is planning to do with any data that's being referenced in that alert app's advisory council report?

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

Just to clarify my response, your initial question mentioned Statistics Canada, and that's the point I was not aware of as a specific reference and would want to follow up on in the page you noted.

With regard to app data, it collects information such as the number of one-time keys issued, as an example, and that may have been what was referred to.

We'll follow up with the committee.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Yes, I appreciate it. If you could just table to the committee the answers to those questions, that would certainly be very welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Barlow.

We go now to Ms. Sidhu.

Ms. Sidhu, please go ahead for five minutes.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for Mr. Stewart or Dr. Tam.

There's a concern among Canadians about the effectiveness of vaccines against the variants of concern, based on real world data.

Can you tell us about the effectiveness of vaccines against the variants of concern?

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

Mr. Chair, I will make a first attempt at answering that question.

The vaccine impacts of variants of concern are being tracked globally from real, live data that has to be collected. So far, we know that the vast majority of the variants of concern are concerning because they have an increased ability to spread quickly.

In terms of impacts of vaccines, the current data suggests that for the B.1.1.7 variant, and indeed for the latest variant of concern, the B.1.617 variant—originally reported from India, some of these subtypes—we expect the vaccines to provide coverage. For others there may be some reduced impacts of the vaccine, but we still expect that the vaccine will work to a certain extent.

The most important thing is to get vaccinated. Of the variants spreading the most in Canada, we expect the vaccines to have an impact on them.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

Dr. Tam, you talked about communication being the key. You mentioned some of the initiatives you are working on to increase vaccine updates, such as connecting to Canadians through social media. The federal government recently launched an advertising campaign on vaccinations and their benefits called the “Ripple Effect” campaign.

What can you tell us about the message this campaign hopes to share with Canadians across the country?

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

Mr. Chair, I'll start and maybe others who are more engaged on that front from a communications standpoint can add.

That campaign is just one out of many approaches. This is a much broader media campaign. It demonstrates, I think, to all Canadians that of course the vaccines protect individuals, but they also have a ripple effect, in that they protect others in the community. If we could all get vaccinated as fast as possible and do so, then we could get back to the things we cherish the most, with much less chance of impacting our health care system and other systems.

I think the concept is that every time someone rolls up their sleeve, the impact permeates through their community and as well protects them as individuals.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

We heard that approximately 58% of adults have received at least one dose, with that number continuing to climb.

My question is to Mr. Matthews.

How does our vaccine procurement portfolio ensure that we are able to provide so many vaccines in such a short amount of time?