Health Committee on May 21st, 2021

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

If in Alberta the province is not enforcing federal hotel quarantine rules, why doesn't the federal government, which controls airports, simply take away their right to receive international travellers and transfer it to a province that will enforce those rules?

[Iain Stewart]

Mr. Chair and honourable member, that's a question that's larger, perhaps, and touching on many factors other than just my responsibilities at the Public Health Agency.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Okay. Thank you.

In her very first news conference since assuming command of the PHAC vaccine rollout, Brigadier-General Brodie announced that Canada will receive 8 million to 10 million fewer vaccine doses than originally expected by the end of June because of delays with shipments from Moderna. Will this shortfall force the provinces and territories to cancel or postpone vaccine appointments that have already been booked?

[Iain Stewart]

Mr. Chair and honourable member, the media characterization of the comments she made was the way you just portrayed. Actually, what Brigadier-General Brodie does is speak to what is confirmed by way of shipments, versus what Bill Matthews, who is here with us, would talk about regarding what's expected by quarter, and perhaps he could speak to that delta.

[Bill Matthews]

Thank you, Iain and Mr. Chair. I'll be very quick here on this front.

Iain is bang on in terms of what Madam Brodie spoke to. The question mark is, what will Moderna deliver in June? As I mentioned in response to a previous question, we will have clarity on that in the next week or so, and we're happy to share that, but that was the delta that was being referred to. As I mentioned, we're hoping for a shipment of Moderna in the first week of June, but we'll be looking to firm that up shortly.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thanks.

The COVAX facility recently announced that it has a supply shortage of at least 140 million doses, in part because of the ongoing COVID crisis in India. The WHO, UNICEF and other international agencies have called on G7 countries to donate excess supplies.

We know that the U.S., France and Sweden have announced plans to donate tens of millions of doses in the coming weeks and that Canada has yet to make the announcement. Instead, we continue to draw doses from COVAX.

Does Canada need to draw on supplies from COVAX to offer a second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Canadians who received it as their first shot? Do we intend to donate any AstraZeneca vaccines not needed for second doses to the COVAX facility, and when?

[Iain Stewart]

Mr. Chair and honourable member, thank you for the question.

As you'll remember, earlier in this year we had many meetings where we were under intense pressure to get the number of vaccines out there, and we had strategies to require vaccines for our portfolio-style approach. Now that we are getting further along in our immunization program, as you point out, there are opportunities to make choices. There's nothing for us to say on that topic at this time, but that's an active topic of discussion. Thank you for the question, sir.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

Dr. Tam, is the guidance that the government is giving to Canadians still to take the first vaccine offered to them?

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

The advice is that every Canadian who is going for a vaccination will be provided with what the province determines to be the appropriate program, but every Canadian should have the ability to have informed consent. As part of that, I think what you might be trying to point out is that there are some differences between vaccines in terms of recommendations pertaining to age groups, for example, or people with other contraindications, for example, and that is done through an informed consent process. You will see in the provinces, including Ontario, that as they are providing that second dose to people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, that informed consent is very much part of the process.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Davies.

That wraps up our round five.

We have four minutes left. I propose that we do a lightning round with one-minute slots per party. If that's acceptable to the committee, we'll go ahead with Mr. Barlow to begin.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

To Mr. Ossowski, I'd like to finish up my previous question. You said there are no criteria in place. How are we negotiating the safe reopening of the border with the United States if we have no benchmarks or criteria in place. Canadians need hope. We don't need any more cute one-shot summer hashtags. We need hope. When will the criteria be in place to safely reopen the border and lift the hotel quarantines?

[John Ossowski]

We're actively working with those criteria, as I was starting to talk about before: the epidemiological curve; the health care capacity; my officer capacity; and the processes in terms of what will be required to be undertaken. Because obviously we're now asking a lot more questions of folks as they're coming into the country by air or by land than we were before, there are transaction time considerations.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

When do you think—

[John Ossowski]

There are a lot—

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

I'm sorry. I only have a minute.

Again, the frustration we're all hearing is palpable. When do you think the criteria and those benchmarks will be in place so that those discussions start to happen and we see a path to reopening the border and ending these hotel quarantines? When do you think that will be?

[John Ossowski]

Dr. Tam has already expressed the broad criteria here of what we're looking for in terms of safety. That would be the first point that we would be looking for, and then the subsequent measures that I talked about—

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

So you don't know. There's no plan.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Barlow.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We'll go now to Dr. Powlowski.

Go ahead, please, sir, for one minute.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

My guess is that all of us on this call are like the majority of adult Canadians: We've had one dose, but not our second dose. My understanding is that now Canada is ahead of the United States in getting out the first dose. I know that because Ron MacLean said that on the hockey game last night, and I get all my medical information from Ron MacLean on the hockey games.

My question is for Dr. Tam: What does this mean practically? I was in discussion with an infectious disease colleague yesterday. He said that he has seen quite a few people in the ICU who have had their first dose. On the other hand, the evidence is pretty good that one dose provides a great deal of protection, but what does having one dose practically mean in terms of what we can and can't do in terms of social distancing?

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

Thank you.

I won't go back to look at the modelling of those criteria for safe lifting, but really, the concept is that as communities, as populations, we need to get the vaccine coverage up. With one dose, that's why we pointed to making sure still that people are vigilant. It's that one dose gives you good protection, but you should get that second dose for maximizing that protection and durability, and in the meantime, you should take all the precautions and follow local public health advice. Don't let your guard down and don't go halfway with your vaccine schedule, which is why this.... It's a prudent, precautionary approach. I think we should have our eye on the puck, as it were, as we skate towards that two-dose for everyone in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Dr. Powlowski.

Mr. Thériault, you have the floor for one minute.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Vinette, has the border services agency increased its staffing levels since the first wave? Is the agency planning to increase them to ensure a secure border reopening?

[Denis Vinette]

Thank you for the question.

We never stopped hiring frontline officers. We hire about 300 a year, at the CBSA College in Rigaud. We've reassigned staff because people are making fewer trips. Those employees are currently assigned to our commercial operations. We're also doing marine and air audits to meet pandemic requirements.

As our president said, part of the plan is to get those people back to the front lines. We will continue to train our students to graduate and be assigned to the border.