Health Committee on June 18th, 2021

[Iain Stewart]

Mr. Chair and honourable member, as I mentioned the last time we touched on this topic, nothing to date has been provided that would indicate the normal security requirements related to classified documents are in fact going to be upheld.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

With great respect, sir, yes, indeed something has, and that is that the ruling of the Speaker squarely says everything I just said to you.

Minister Hajdu, I'd like to ask you, when can cystic fibrosis patients in this country get access to Trikafta, which they so desperately need? When will that happen?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Thanks, MP Davies.

I will turn to Stephen Lucas, but Trikafta was just approved, I think either yesterday or today.

Dr. Lucas, can you confirm that?

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I understand that it was approved. That's why I asked the question, Minister.

I know it was approved, so when is it going to get in the hands of patients in this country?

[Dr. Stephen Lucas, Deputy Minister, Department of Health]

In response, following the Health Canada approval, provinces and territories need to make listing decisions. CADTH, the group doing health technology assessment, and INESSS in Quebec will be providing their advice to provinces in the coming weeks. Following that, provinces will consider it in terms of enabling access.

Until that time, the access is available through the special access program.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

If I may use my remaining time to provide some advice to you and to the minister, with respect, I've had some very profoundly affecting meetings with cystic fibrosis patients in this country. They need access to Trikafta immediately. Anything that this government can do to expedite and accelerate production and distribution of Trikafta, beyond the special access program generally, I would urge this government to do on an emergency basis.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Davies.

We go now to Ms. O'Connell.

Ms. O'Connell, please go ahead, for five minutes.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Getting back to COVID and some of the areas that I think Canadians are really interested in, today was a big announcement in regard to vaccine deliveries. Canada is number one, I believe, in the G7, G20 and OECD for first doses, but getting into second doses, I know here in Ontario and in my community, we're getting those second doses out.

With today's announcements, perhaps you could speak about the announcement today, where that puts us in terms of delivery and our position for getting Canadians fully vaccinated, especially in the context of the delta variant.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Through the chair, thank you very much, MP O'Connell.

Today's announcement was indeed really great news. In fact, now we are on track to having 68 million doses in total delivered by the end of July, which is more than enough to fully vaccinate 33.2 million Canadians over the age of 12.

Of course, we have some work to do to administer all of those vaccines, but the news is good. We hopefully will start to see the curve of the second vaccine dose rise as rapidly as the first. I know that Canadians are very eager to get their second dose, and immunizers are very eager to get going.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you.

There are many officials here who actively worked with procurement in terms of working to get these doses, so I won't have time to ask you all questions. On behalf of all Canadians, thank you for your hard work in getting these doses.

I'll ask Brigadier-General Brodie. Could you give us even a little bit of an update in terms of the specific schedule of how many doses we received this week, and what's anticipated in the next week or so, based on the schedule that you have after this announcement? Could you just highlight this news for the committee?

[Brigadier-General Krista Brodie, Vice-President, Logistics and Operations, Public Health Agency of Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable member.

This week alone, we have brought in 9.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. We have distributed over six million doses of those, or will have by the end of today. Another 2.7 million arrived this morning.

We'll continue to distribute vaccines as they flow into Canada and as the provinces pull those forward to support their vaccination campaigns. We're tracking for significant volumes of vaccines to continue flowing in every few days for the next several weeks, until we reach the point where we have an appropriate number of vaccines to fully vaccinate all eligible Canadians.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you.

What is that number for approximately all eligible Canadians—for the two doses, obviously?

[BGen Krista Brodie]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members.

If we're looking at 100% coverage from a vaccine distribution perspective and that factors in a number of assumptions with respect to how we manage the inventory as it processes through the supply chain, we're looking at around 66 million doses to hit that 100% target.

Clearly, Dr. Tam has encouraged us to shoot for the stars. We are looking at encouraging Canadians to be vaccinated in the greatest measure possible so that we can not only achieve that 75% that will allow us to minimize the burdens on our hospitals and our health care systems, but also truly protect Canada and Canadians in this environment, in this pandemic, and see us through to the other side.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you so much for that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. O'Connell.

Mr. Lemire, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for Minister Hajdu, because I liked part of her answer. She said that she consulted with all the people that I wanted to bring to the table.

However, does she see the difference between consulting with people and bringing them to the table so that together they can find the best possible strategy and speak about the different areas of expertise?

I'm thinking in particular of the COVID‑19 vaccine task force. Remember that the transparency and ethics of certain people around the table were criticized. I consider it important to ensure collaboration, particularly with respect to the PMPRB.

Research Canada has four recommendations regarding caution. First, the entire health research and innovation ecosystem should be maintained.

Second, the government should reconsider not only the PMPRB reforms' impact on drug costs, but also on drug value and patients' access to innovative medicines and clinical trials.

Third, the federal government should consider the reforms' impact on employment for the next generation of highly skilled researchers and on its investments in this area.

As a result, the fourth recommendation is that the federal government defer implementation of the PMPRB reforms until it has concluded a more comprehensive process in support of the full health research and innovation ecosystem, bringing all key stakeholders who will be impacted by these reforms to the table.

What does the minister have to say to Research Canada: an alliance for health discovery?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

First of all, to the member, we have had a number of stakeholder consultations. I'll turn to Dr. Lucas, who has details about the types of consultations that have gone on through the process of suggestions to reform the PMPRB.

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

Thank you.

There have been extensive consultations over many years regarding the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board and specifically the regulations, which came into force in August 2019. Subsequent to that, there has been extensive consultation on the guidelines to implement those through the PMPRB in regard to the effect of the pandemic.

Furthermore, through the work of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, we have been consulting the industry, patient groups and others on the life sciences sector in this country; rejuvenating the biomanufacturing sector, as outlined in the budget, with an investment of $2.2 billion; and working on critical elements, such as Dr. Strong referred to, in terms of clinical trials and regulatory systems.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I want to hear your thoughts on transparency.

Will your research provide transparency?

Will we have access to the results of these meetings, Mr. Lucas?

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

The various consultation exercises have resulted in a variety of “what we heard” reports and documents provided. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, for example, in its guidelines, has provided revised guidelines. There have been multiple-step consultations. Health Canada will be posting, in the coming weeks, a report on its consultations regarding the strategy for rare disease drugs. There is a great deal of transparency in terms of the engagement.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Lemire.

Once again we will go back to Mr. Davies.

Mr. Davies, go ahead. You have two and a half minutes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

Dr. Tam, federal modelling produced in May suggested that when 75% of eligible Canadians are fully vaccinated, restrictive public health measures like distancing and masking could begin to loosen.

You recently confirmed that the variants used to develop those models did not include the delta variant, which is the most infectious tracked in Canada to date. In fact, you were quoted a few days ago as saying:

If we model the Delta variant now and put that into the model...it does mean that even higher vaccination coverage would be even better at protection against the hospitalizations and overwhelming the health system.

I have a quick question. Does PHAC plan to update its 75% full vaccination target in response to the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant across Canada?

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

In terms of modelling and data, yes, we'll be updating it.

In terms of what benchmarks to use for policy positions, the vaccine coverage is not the only benchmark. The other really critical piece is the deceleration of this third wave in Canada. You have to look at both. Otherwise, you'd be taking just one side of the coin—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Right. In other words, would you agree that...? Is what you're saying, Dr. Tam, that Canada will not be able to exclusively vaccinate its way out of a potential fourth wave driven by the delta variant?

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

That's right. You still need to use a combination of measures, but with the vaccine, you can begin to take out certain layers as well, so that's what we'll be seeing.

With the delta variant, the other key message is of course the 75% and 20%. That's the first goalpost, if you like. You can ease measures, but you have to be very careful until you get two doses into your arm.