Evidence of meeting #38 for Health in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was doses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Okay. Let me explore that a bit.
Media reports have revealed that mandatory hotel quarantine rules are not being enforced at two of the four Canadian airports currently permitted to receive international flights. That's in Montreal and in Calgary.
Can you confirm if hotel quarantine rules are being enforced at these airports in those provinces?
President, Canada Border Services Agency
I think I would pass that question on to my colleague, Iain Stewart at PHAC, because they're responsible for the enforcement of the hotel requirement.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
Thank you, John.
Mr. Chair and honourable member, I'd like to just add a couple of things if I could.
The public policy rationale of the government-approved accommodations, the hotels, is that somebody comes off an international flight, we don't know if they're infected and infectious or not, so they do the test. They're tested immediately if they come off the plane, and then they go to the hotel to wait for the result.
A lot of people coming in internationally, of course, are boarding a domestic flight and what we didn't want was infected people, perhaps carrying the Indian variant or something like that, getting on a plane from Toronto to Winnipeg and infecting a bunch of people on the plane. That was the public policy rationale for that.
At the land border, you don't get the same type of profile. People are usually arriving in a conveyance and continuing on. That's one thing I wanted to mention.
The other thing to mention is that the infection rate of people arriving by air is about 1.7%, so about 6,185 people out of about 369,000.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Stewart, the question was on enforcement at those two airports.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
I do understand, sir. I'm sorry. I just wanted to provide the background—
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
I would just like to provide the background that, at the land border, it's 0.3%. The threat at the land border is substantially smaller.
We do, in fact, enforce at all four international airport points of entry. In two provinces where we don't have the Contraventions Act, we rely on litigation as opposed to tickets. I think that has created a perception you're referring to.
Liberal
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
In the case of Saskatchewan, for instance, I believe we have 15 court cases in process at this juncture.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. Davies.
We'll start our second round of questions now with Mr. d'Entremont. Please go ahead. You have five minutes.
Conservative
Chris d'Entremont Conservative West Nova, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Earlier I think Mr. Stewart talked about some 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca coming in. Could you tell us which program that's from, whether that's from the COVAX program or the bilateral contract that we're expecting?
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
The 655,000 doses that are currently being distributed were Canada accessing our payment under COVAX.
Conservative
Chris d'Entremont Conservative West Nova, NS
There is a bilateral contract with the manufacturer, so we're going to be expecting some doses from them as well. When will those be coming?
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
You're absolutely right. We have a procurement agreement with AstraZeneca for U.S. production. The first shipment is anticipated by the end of June and then another six and a half million in Q3.
Conservative
Chris d'Entremont Conservative West Nova, NS
Thank you.
Dr. Tunis, we've had a number of issues around AstraZeneca. A lot of provinces have made a decision not to offer it to their populations. Will NACI be coming up with some advice on what to do with those folks who might not want to have AstraZeneca as their second dose?
Dr. Matthew Tunis Executive Secretary, National Advisory Committee on Immunization
That is on the forward work plan for NACI. The committee is currently reviewing evidence on interchangeability across vaccine platforms. As Dr. Tam mentioned, we expect some of that evidence to become available later in the month or into early June. There has already been some news released from a Spanish study looking at the same.
The committee is reviewing the scientific evidence on this topic in order to provide that advice on interchangeability. The Public Health Agency of Canada does intend to ask NACI for their advice about options for individuals who have received AstraZeneca as a first dose and whether interchangeability might be an option.
Thank you.
Conservative
Chris d'Entremont Conservative West Nova, NS
We know that some people will be having their second doses pretty soon, especially the ones who got it earlier. I think at the beginning of March some people began receiving AstraZeneca. Are we going to be a little crunched on time if we're waiting for another month or two?
Executive Secretary, National Advisory Committee on Immunization
When we've looked at the national numbers, it's around the first week of June that individuals would start being available for their second dose, according to a 12-week or a three-month interval for AstraZeneca vaccine.
I'll also note that NACI has advised us that up to 16 weeks could be considered for an interval. In fact, with the AstraZeneca vaccine in the clinical trials, an interval of 12 weeks or greater than 12 weeks was the most efficacious. There are also options for extended intervals beyond that first week of June as well.
Conservative
Chris d'Entremont Conservative West Nova, NS
Thank you.
I don't know if this is for Health Canada or the Public Health Agency. Are there any legal concerns around giving Canadians a different brand from what they consented to originally?
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
We do, of course, take into consideration consent. It's an important part of the vaccination process. The NACI study will create guidance regarding the mixing of the two doses. I'm not aware of any legal issues that would arise of that nature.
Based on your experience, Theresa, I don't know if you have any comment or advice in that regard.
Chief Public Health Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada
Mr. Chair, I have nothing further to add. I think the guidance will be based on the evidence that we have at the time, which is up-and-coming. Provinces will look at that evidence as they roll out the vaccine program. Absolutely, informed consent is part of the program.
Conservative
Chris d'Entremont Conservative West Nova, NS
With vaccine hesitancy, are you concerned when people who were expecting both doses to be the same brand...? How will government messaging ensure that Canadians have confidence in the different-vaccines regimen?