Madam Chair, if I may, before answering the question, I would like to clarify something.
My good colleague, Gary Kobinger, suggested that perhaps I was not the author of the text that I read and that it was vetted by government. I want to assure everyone that I wrote it with my staff. It has not been seen by anybody in government, not the political side and not any of the ranking civil servants, so it is entirely mine and I have been completely free throughout this pandemic to express myself.
To the question that is being asked of me, the answer is yes. The advice was provided about the importance of biomanufacturing in the country. In the early summer when I appeared in front of the health committee, I did mention it publicly. I said that we are playing catch-up and that we need to be able to produce vaccines in the country.
I think I'll just stop there.