Mr. Chair, I'll attempt to clarify that wastage is inevitable in any immunization program. When we initially started the vaccination campaign, the unavoidable wastage was around 3%. Basically, when you open the vial, you have to use it within a 24-hour time period, or it cannot be stored, etc.
As we moved further into our vaccination campaign, demand decreased. There were some other factors that meant that, from a wastage perspective, there was increased waste. In reality, what happened was that there were times when we had vaccines that were very complex, early in the rollout. As I said, you have to thaw them and you have a limited time period in which to use them. Also, as we moved on to other vaccines, stability data became more...such that we were able to say, “This vaccine could be used in nine months.” For example, Health Canada authorized an increase in the shelf life based on what was presented to them, so we continued to plan according to the nine-month....
There were multiple factors that happened: cold chain excursions, puncturing of the vial, or inability to store at a particular temperature. Those were multiple factors that contributed to wastage, which is unavoidable.