Health Committee on Nov. 20th, 2020

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

Thank you very much.

Through the chair, let me say that I admire the member's persistence, but I don't have the....

Listen, those conversations will happen. The Prime Minister has made a commitment to meet with the provinces and territories to talk about long-term health care funding. I think that demonstrates an openness to understanding that we all need robust health care systems in all provinces and territories.

I agree with his statement that oftentimes it's hard for provinces, territories and, indeed, local governments to see the value of prevention in investing in local public health, and I think Dr. Tam has said that, but the commitment of the Prime Minister is to meet with the provinces and territories in December to talk about health care transfers.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you very much.

Since I have some time left, I will ask another question.

In her presentation, the Minister showed an interest in establishing a universal pharmacare program.

If the government proceeds with that, will Quebec be able to use its right to opt out, with full compensation?

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

Thank you again for the question.

Hopefully, you can tell by the nature of our work throughout the pandemic that we believe everything we do has to be done in partnership and with respect for provinces and territories. That's how we have managed the pandemic together. It's certainly how we have managed to order our affairs in terms of, for example, testing, contact tracing and data gathering. We just had a round of conversations about mandatory data gathering.

As you know, this government believes that provinces and territories have the responsibility to deliver health care systems in their jurisdiction and that we have the responsibility to support them in that work. The work I'm doing on the national pharmacare program will be in full partnership with provinces and territories.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Ste-Marie.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We will go now to Mr. Davies.

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

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Minister, you just referred to national pharmacare. Are you committed to delivering national pharmacare through our public system?

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

Thank you for the question.

In fact, it's this government that's done the most to lower drug costs in a generation .

We've been very clear. We believe that no Canadian should have to choose between putting food on the table and purchasing the pharmaceutical drugs that they need to stay healthy or to address their illness.

Let's be clear. We have been taking strong steps towards a national universal pharmacare program, and we'll continue that work. Budget 2019 committed money towards the development of a Canada drug agency. Work is ongoing right now to stand that agency up.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Stewart, I want to be clear on this. The six million doses of vaccine that we're going to have delivered by March, hopefully, are from Pfizer and Moderna, correct?

[Iain Stewart]

Yes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

The Prime Minister says that he negotiated 20 million doses of vaccine from Pfizer. Am I correct that at least 16 million of those doses are going to come after March 31?

[Iain Stewart]

Yes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Can you tell us how many doses of vaccine Canada has procured in the second quarter of 2021?

[Iain Stewart]

I don't have that information off the top of my head.

We have seven procurement agreements now, and those add up. The Prime Minister and others have made those numbers available. It's a substantial number of vaccine doses. I don't have anything in front of me broken out by quarter.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Many people have expressed concern. It's one thing to say we've negotiated contracts for 400 million doses, but that's meaningless if we don't get those doses for eight or 12 or 18 months.

Can you tell us how many doses of vaccine Canadians can expect to receive in 2021?

[Iain Stewart]

My understanding is based on the agreements we've negotiated and on the assumption that they are approved by the regulator—which is a big if—and if they deliver them on time, which, as my earlier statement indicated, is a big if as well. If that's the case, there will be sufficient vaccine doses delivered to achieve a population immunity threshold over the course of the next year.

That's my understanding, but I don't have the specific numbers.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

But the first three months will cover less than 8%. If people require two doses of vaccine, six million doses is enough to inoculate three million Canadians by March 31, which is about 8% of our population. Is that correct?

[Iain Stewart]

Yes, that sounds correct.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

If I could squeeze in one more question—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Davies, you're over your time.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We have 16 minutes left, by my account. We don't have time for another round.

I would suggest a lightning round of two minutes per party, if the committee would agree to it.

Would that be acceptable to the committee?

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Could that be four minutes per party?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We don't have that much time.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I thought you said 16 minutes.