Thank you very much.
I recommended the creation of the vaccine task force because very early on it was clear that a lot of vaccine development was under way. Actually, at some point, there were over 200 vaccines at different stages of development. There was no data on any vaccine development, certainly not things about their efficacy in human and even animal models until the summer. From my conversations with my counterparts internationally, it was clear that we were going to be running into a situation of shortages—the entire globe wants these vaccines—and it was unclear which ones were going to work. Even those countries that could produce vaccines didn't know which platforms would be available.
It was very important that we start putting in place a group that could give independent advice. Otherwise the government would have to basically rely on the private sector and others basically lobbying to get funds and lobbying to sell their products. I thought that maybe this was a situation where the scientific advice would be very helpful to the country.
I was very involved with the task force. As I said, I went to all the meetings, especially the ones where they studied and we had actually the scientists from the companies and from Canadian labs as well. We signed confidentiality agreements to be able to look at those data and make informed decisions.
I would say the countries that have similar vaccine task forces were the U.K. and—a little bit differently, perhaps—the U.S. with their Operation Warp Speed. Australia also had a vaccine task force. Eventually France also put in place a vaccine task force, as did other countries as well.
I think it was the right thing to do and the right model.