Industry Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2021

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

Through the chair, yes, I think using expertise in Canada from a variety of different perspectives in the field of vaccination has been very effective.

If you think about the fact that we have two approved vaccines, three more in the queue for approval and some very promising developments from the Canadian vaccine, Medicago, we should be very grateful to these Canadians who, by the way, did this on a voluntary basis besides the extremely busy jobs, in some cases, they were holding down, and also responding to COVID-19 in their own realms.

This use of expertise has really stood Canada well in terms of our capacity to ensure we are in fact buying the right vaccines and, as you said and I've said, placing our bets on the right candidates.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you very much for that. I couldn't agree with you more.

You noted that, as of April, there are going to be more volumes of vaccines coming in and that will accelerate in terms of what we receive.

From where you sit, would you say that the provinces are in a good position to have the ability and the logistics to actually deal with the heightened volume of doses coming in?

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

Through the chair, yes, I would say that an enormous amount of work has happened at all levels of government to prepare for the next stage of vaccination, which is really, as you point out, one that will be primarily focusing on volume.

We knew early on in the first quarter that we would not have a volume of vaccines, but we also felt that it was a good way to ramp up our vaccination process, because it would allow for the provinces and territories to have in place the infrastructure, particularly for these new vaccines that require extremely cold storage.

When we start to receive vaccines that are more, I suppose, traditional in that they don't require the same storage considerations, they can be moved more easily. In some cases they are one-dose vaccines. We know that provinces and territories have a lot of experience in that type of vaccination. Obviously, there are a number of different stakeholders who are excited to help, and that work is happening with the national operations centre to ensure that provinces and territories have the robust planning in place. Of course, we're there to assist them with any needs they might have as they do that planning.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you very much.

Now I will turn to Mr. Stewart.

I'm quite surprised that you have been barraged with a number of questions that really don't relate to PHAC and instead relate to the NRC. For the benefit of the members of our committee, could you explain the differences and the responsibilities of PHAC and the NRC, please?

[Iain Stewart]

Of course. The National Research Council is over 100 years old. It's a 15 research centre institution that does research with a lot of partners, about 800 different partners a year. In any given year, they have many projects with all kinds of companies from all across aerospace, life sciences, agriculture, you name it.

Of course, the Public Health Agency is focused on the public health of Canadians, whether it's funding programs to support things like addressing early childhood development, or the opioids crisis, or, on the other hand, today very evidently preparing for an immunization program and responding to the pandemic.

I'm being red-flagged so I'll stop there.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

My apologies, but you're out of time.

We'll continue with Mr. Généreux, who has five minutes at his disposal.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'll be brief. From what I understand today, Thursday will be a busy day, because we almost didn't get any answers to our questions. Mr. Davies and Mr. Champagne will have to prepare themselves well.

Madam Minister, all last fall, you told us that you had a wonderful portfolio of vaccines guaranteed worldwide. Of the seven companies, five of them will not be ready to supply vaccines until next summer, including Novavax. Novavax will produce two million doses per month. It appears that the Prime Minister will make the announcement this afternoon. As we speak, the two major suppliers have not been able to meet their commitment since the beginning of the year. What guarantee do you have, other than an assurance, not written but verbal, that the vaccines will be delivered in the next few months?

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

Thank you, MP Généreux, and through the chair, those questions around the contract and delivery schedules are best posed to my colleague, Minister Anand.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

As I was saying, Thursday's meeting will be busy.

You're on the special committee that was set up to manage the whole issue of obtaining vaccines and you can't even confirm that we won't get five of the seven vaccines until next summer. I repeat my question.

Do you have any assurance that we will receive, in the next few weeks, the vaccines that unfortunately have not been delivered since the beginning of the year, although they were promised to us?

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

I'll just say that I work very closely with the Minister of Public Services and Procurement. She is working flat out to ensure we have clarity of delivery schedules so we can ensure the provinces and territories know what doses they're going to get and when they will get them, and they can be ready to deploy when those vaccines enter the country.

Of course, some of these vaccines require an extreme cold chain, as we know, and it's very important that we coordinate the receipt of the vaccines and then the further delivery to the provinces and territories. That work is happening with Major-General Dany Fortin through the national operations centre and obviously with a great deal of participation from Procurement. We're very pleased he's there to help ensure the transfer to the provinces and territories is going as smoothly as it is.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Madam Minister, due to a lack of vaccine, the Quebec government has been forced to postpone the second injection of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. There are concerns that this practice, which is not recommended by the manufacturers, could lead to new mutations of the virus, as we are unfortunately seeing in South Africa and Brazil.

As Minister of Health, are you concerned about this?

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

I responded already to that question. There is guidance from the Public Health Agency of Canada as well as regulatory approval guidance that indicates that provinces should be vaccinating as close as possible to the pharmaceutical recommendation.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Medicago received $175 million from the federal government to develop a vaccine.

Do you know if it will be effective? Can you tell us when the first deliveries of this vaccine to Quebec will take place?

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

I will answer broadly and then turn to my officials.

In general, my understanding is they are proceeding very well through their clinical trials and it is quite promising.

I will turn to Steve Lucas to see if there is any update from his conversations with the corporation.

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

Madam Chair, Health Canada has authorized two clinical trials for Medicago and they're currently doing a phase two/three trial. That was authorized in early November. We'll be awaiting their results and when they're ready, a rolling submission to our expedited pathway that Minister Hajdu has described.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

When can we expect to see this vaccine made available to Canadians?

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

That depends on the completion of the clinical program and the manufacturing work of Medicago and their submission to the regulatory authority at Health Canada.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I see.

Mr. Stewart, since September 28, you have been working in another department.

If I'm not mistaken, in your previous position, you were at the heart of the agreement that took place with CanSino Biologics Inc. You truly believe that CanSino is an exclusively private company.

Do you think that, even if they are listed on the stock exchange, Chinese companies are entirely and exclusively private?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Reply very quickly as you're out of time.

[Iain Stewart]

I may not have fully got the question, sir.

Are you asking me if private companies are fully private in China? I'm not quite clear.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Yes, that's what I was asking.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Perhaps on a subsequent round you can continue that subject.

Our next round of questions goes to MP Erskine-Smith.

You have five minutes.

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Thanks very much, Madam Chair.

My first question is in relation to the approval process for vaccines. Obviously, without domestic manufacturing capacity, we rely on imports and so, out of necessity, it is really important to approve these vaccines as quickly as possible.

A constituent of mine, Dr. Doan, asked why there has been a delay in approving AstraZeneca, and when we look at the EU and Australia and the U.K., why, in a crisis situation like this, a global pandemic, would we not rely upon not a single international regulator. When there is a collection of trusted regulators, three that I've referenced, why on that basis would we not expedite the approval of these critical vaccines?

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

I can start and then turn to Deputy Minister Lucas.

Quite frankly, the answer is that we're not comparing apples to oranges in many cases. For example, AstraZeneca can be produced in multiple sites across the world. When Health Canada does an approval, it's looking at not just the efficacy and the safety of the vaccine itself, but also the manufacturing data that goes along with where the doses destined for Canada will be produced, along with data on the individual lots that Canada is purchasing.

It seems that we're all approving the same vaccine, but in fact a vaccine produced in India versus a vaccine produced in the U.K. versus a vaccine produced in the U.S. may all have different manufacturing data that needs to be analyzed through the lens of safety.

I will turn to Deputy Minister Lucas to fill in a few more details.

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

Madam Chair, as Minister Hajdu noted, we do work on a rolling submission basis through data from preclinical to clinical to quality data or data pertaining to manufacturing. We issue drug establishment licences for those establishments that would be producing the actual vaccines that Canada would access. That process is happening on an extraordinarily expedited basis.

As noted previously, we do work in collaboration with international regulators, but in the end, we need to review the final data that is pertinent to the authorization in Canada and make that assessment based on our independent scientific review. We're doing that by literally working around the clock with independent teams dedicated to each vaccine. We'll work to conclude that review, in particular, AstraZeneca, as quickly as possible, with the final information provided by the manufacturer when it comes.