Industry Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2021

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, but now that we're going to Mr. Lucas, let me ask another question.

I now understand the rolling submission and the close collaboration that our government's health organization has with the manufacturer. Did we pursue similar working relationships with other jurisdictions' health organizations? Some of them have approved some of these vaccines ahead of us. Is there any type of collaboration going on between those health bodies and ours to be able to piggyback and to get some of these vaccines like AstraZeneca, Janssen and the other ones approved much faster?

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

Again, I will start and then turn to Deputy Minister Lucas for gap filling, if you will.

Yes, there is collaboration with other regulatory bodies, and data, information and analysis are shared as appropriate. Of course, each country does its own approvals, and Canada is considered a gold standard regulator. This is also beneficial to the pharmaceutical companies, because, of course, when they get approved in Canada, many other smaller countries that don't have the same level of capacity to do their own review look at Canada as a stamp of approval, if you will. That's quite valuable to the manufacturer as well. We collaborate on a regular basis with places like the EU, the FDA and others that have long-standing relationships with Health Canada regulators.

I'll turn to Deputy Minister Lucas for a few more words.

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

Yes, indeed, as part of our independent scientific review, we have continued to work with both international regulators and international regulatory forums. Canada played a critical role in the establishment of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities and has played roles co-chairing committees pertinent to the review of vaccines for COVID. We worked through a consortium with Switzerland, the U.K., Australia and Singapore, and also, as Minister Hajdu noted, with the European Medicines Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Through these efforts, we're able to identify opportunities to help strengthen our independent review, but at the end of the day, we make those decisions based on the evidence provided to us and on our benchmarks of safety, quality and efficacy.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

We will now turn to MP Lemire.

You have the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the minister and to Mr. Stewart for being here.

First, is there any advantage for a country like Canada to be self-sufficient in vaccine production in the context of a global pandemic such as the one we are currently experiencing?

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

Thank you for your question.

I think that in a way, yes, maybe so.

As we've seen, the crisis has meant there is intense competition amongst countries, in some cases for the exact same product or the exact same solution. That created, as you know, in the early days, for example, a high degree of tension around personal protective equipment around the country. If you remember those early days, very few countries were producing the kind of equipment we needed. I think we see the same in terms of pharmaceuticals.

Clearly, the world is learning this lesson that there is obviously always going to be a global economy. From my perspective as Minister of Health, the work we're doing to build up our domestic manufacturing capacity is very important, not just for COVID-19, but also for the future of our capacity to respond to other crises.

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

Thank you.

First of all, on the government strategy, I'm very supportive of the fact that they're trying to put more money and resources into vaccine production in Canada. However, in its strategy, Canada has secured the equivalent of 500% of its needs. That's huge.

What will happen to the doses that we won't need?

We're talking about 400 million doses, whereas two doses are needed per Canadian, which is about 80 million.

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

I agree. We have more than we need. However, the first responsibility is to make sure that we can vaccinate Canadians. We wanted to leave no stone unturned.

One of the benefits of our approach has been to place bets, if you will, on a variety of promising candidates as steered by the vaccine task force. I've talked about this before in the House. These are exemplary Canadian volunteers with expertise in pharmaceuticals, immunology and other relevant fields who advise Canada on which of the candidates that were under development looked promising and how we should place our bets. That's exactly what we've done.

As you know, we're also a contributor to Covax, the facility that's looking at making sure the world can be vaccinated. There is an opportunity, should Canada find itself not needing additional doses, to be able to contribute even more greatly to Covax, either through options or other mechanisms.

I will agree with you—

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

Is there a cost, Madam Minister, to reserve doses with pharmaceutical companies?

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

These are options on doses from manufacturing companies. These options have been purchased on behalf of Canada to make sure we have a diverse portfolio with the best possibility of having successful vaccines here in Canada.

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

So there is a cost associated with buying 400 million doses.

In one of your briefings, you mentioned that each dose, according to the promise to purchase, costs $19.50.

Is this price the same whether you pay it in the third quarter of 2020 or the last quarter of 2021?

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

Thank you for the question.

Those are questions that will need to be raised with my colleague, Minister Anand. I am not in the work of procurement in terms of negotiating contracts with the pharmaceutical companies. Rather, I work on the side of making sure that we implement the vaccine task force recommendations and that we have the capacity to distribute the vaccines and support the provinces and territories to do so.

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

In that case I will put the question to him a bit later in the week.

Why did the government strategy favour China over Canada's production capacity in the first place?

Why did you then favour the United States and Europe before favouring companies from Quebec and Canada?

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

Again, the decision about which candidates we should place our bets on was guided by the advice of the experts on the vaccine task force. They do include a Canadian company, partly because the Canadian company had promised, but also because to your point, having a biomanufacturing capacity in Canada is important. This is a way we can support that development, and that is the Medicago company based in Montreal. Again, we have an option on 76 million doses from that candidate.

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

Does the agreement with Pfizer include an obligation to use Pfizer's vaccine?

If Medicago were approved, could it distribute its vaccine in Canada?

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

I am not aware of the procurement details and the contracts with the companies. Those will be good questions for my colleague, Minister Anand.

I will just say that from our perspective at the Public Health Agency of Canada, each vaccine is assessed on its merits; each vaccine may be indicated for use in different populations and all might be useful for the variety of Canadian citizens and their needs.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

Our next round of questions goes to MP Davies.

You have the floor for six minutes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My first question will be for Mr. Stewart.

PHAC had somehow inexplicably reduced or eliminated the Global Public Health Intelligence Network. Can you tell me if GPHIN is back in operation now?

[Iain Stewart]

Yes, GPHIN is back in operation, and Minister Hajdu has asked for a review of the events you're referring to.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Are those the events leading to why it was surprisingly cancelled?

[Iain Stewart]

It's looking into the operation of the program over the past while and opportunities to enhance its effectiveness.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Do we know who made the decision to reduce or cancel GPHIN?

[Iain Stewart]

I believe it's on the public record. It was a decision made administratively inside the organization to change the way—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Is there a person who made that decision?