House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2019, with 26% of the vote.
Health November 4th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, we are ahead of schedule in getting the vaccine to the provinces and the territories. Six million doses have been distributed, 1.8 million more, 225,000 for unadjuvanted vaccine to the provinces and territories.
Territories and provinces are rolling out their campaigns. We will continue to work with the provinces and territories in their rollout. By next week, some jurisdictions will have completed their mass immunization campaign.
Madam Speaker, when we approved the authorization of the adjuvanted vaccine, we also started looking immediately for non-adjuvanted because GSK had not yet produced them. We have 225,000 doses that are currently being distributed across the country for pregnant women and more vaccine will be produced through GSK in the coming weeks.
Madam Speaker, I have said from the beginning that it is very important when dealing with a health care crisis, like a pandemic, to keep party politics away because Canadians would want us to do that.
One of the first things I did when we started dealing with this situation was to call the opposition critics to get them onside and explain to them what we were dealing with. My number one concern was the health and safety of Canadians.
In terms of managing a pandemic, it is also very important to communicate facts based on science and not to be fearmongering in any population, particularly the most vulnerable in first nations communities.
Madam Speaker, as I have said before in this House, I know some of the challenges of living in small, remote communities, because I come from a small, remote community and the nearest hospital is about 500 or 600 miles away. We have a nursing station. There are always challenges in delivering health care.
What I can say to the member, and I said this in a question period in response to her, with regard to funding, is that as Health Minister I increased funding for first nations health. Our government increased housing for first nations. The member voted against that.
I will continue to work with first nations communities to address their issues. In fact, I had to cancel a very important meeting with 400 chiefs in British Columbia to stay for this H1N1 emergency debate. I will continue to work with them.
I have had numerous meetings with the chiefs in Manitoba. In fact I was there just a few weeks ago and met again with the chiefs. I delivered a radio show to 65 first nations communities. I was in Regina. I went to a reserve to meet with first nations chiefs.
We will continue to work with the first nations chiefs, not only in the area of pandemic preparedness but also to address some of the health challenges they have in their communities.
Madam Speaker, since April, I have been working with the provinces and territories in the rollout of the pandemic plan.
I was a territorial health minister for five years and know full well, intimately, the plan that was developed back in 2006 and agreed to by provinces and territories. There were lots of lessons learned at that time, and during the SARS outbreak, to develop a plan for Canada. When it was time to implement the plan, provinces and territories became aware of the presence of H1N1, over a weekend, from the confirmed lab results in Mexico.
In terms of why August was the date chosen, the chief public health officers and medical officers across the country through their ministries advised us at the time that it was very important for us in Canada to complete the production of the regular flu vaccine.
We know full well that in Canada about 4,000 Canadians die of the regular flu. The medical experts recommended that it was important to complete the vaccine against that. So that was completed over the summer months. As soon as that was done, the production of the H1N1 vaccine started, again based on the medical advice of the provinces and territories.
Something else that was developed, which my good friend from the NDP took part in, was a gathering in Winnipeg of a group of medical experts and chief medical officers to look at the cases we were seeing in Canada, the more serious cases, and what some of the underlying conditions were. They brought together a number of experts across the country and international community to develop the sequencing guidelines.
We recognized at the time that we could not immunize 33 million Canadians at one time, and it was important to target the most vulnerable. That guideline was established for the provinces and territories to use in the rollout of the first six million doses of vaccine distributed to the provinces.
I will continue to work with the provinces to roll out the vaccine to them as soon as it comes through from GSK.
Madam Speaker, I am always pleased to provide the House with an update on the efforts of health portfolios to respond to the H1N1 flu virus outbreak. The reason for that is I am very proud of and stand behind all of our efforts to date, especially considering H1N1 is a novel virus. It is not something we have encountered before.
This new form of influenza is causing sickness and death in demographic groups that are usually most resistant to seasonal viruses and other disease outbreaks. For the first time in a long time, we are seeing school-aged children, youth and working-age adults hit hardest by this virus. More often it is the very young and very old who are most at risk of severe cases of the flu. With seasonal flu, over 90% of deaths and about 60% of hospitalizations occur in people older than 65. I would like to focus today on the facts about our response.
In April we received a report of these illnesses from Mexico. Our international reputation is such that when Mexican officials realized they had a problem, they called Canada first. We indicated that we would be happy to assist and immediately began doing so. We also began working immediately with the World Health Organization and our international and Canadian partners to respond quickly to this developing situation.
Since that day, the Government of Canada's actions have been unprecedented and we continue to demonstrate the leadership that Canadians, governments, health professionals and organizations are looking for during an outbreak. Let me provide just a few examples.
This is a very unique, new virus that could not be identified by a traditional method. However, the Public Health Agency's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg is an international leader in infectious disease diagnostics and research. Our lab had processes in place to identify emerging pathogens along with cutting edge technology that not all labs have.
Once we received specimens from Mexico, we got to work right away. Our National Microbiology Laboratory had test results within 24 hours. We mapped the genetic code of the Canadian and Mexican flu viruses, the first time that was done in the world.
The scientific excellence and leadership has been the hallmark of our response to the H1N1 influenza virus outbreak.
On the epidemiological side, we implemented heightened surveillance through FluWatch and began providing support to affected areas, including first nations and Inuit communities.
We began holding regular media briefings. In fact, since the spring, I have held over 41 media briefings. This is unprecedented and it is consistent with our commitment to keep Canadians informed as part of the pandemic plan. In addition, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada and myself have conducted hundreds of media interviews.
The 1 800 O Canada information line has received calls requesting over 300,000 copies of the government's H1N1 preparedness guide and almost 50,000 of the guides have been downloaded from the Public Health Agency website. Radio and television ads are airing nationally, focusing on personal preparedness and vaccine information in the weeks to come. We will continue to roll out our multimedia, multi-phased citizen readiness marketing campaign.
In order to ensure that my colleagues on the other side of the House are kept up to date, we have provided over 40 briefings for opposition members of Parliament.
Last summer, after consultation with the provinces, territories and international partners and suppliers, we purchased enough doses of the H1N1 vaccine for every Canadian who needed and wanted it. In addition, we have ensured that pregnant women have access to unadjuvanted vaccine, following the advice of the World Health Organization.
The rollout was planned for early November, however, because of the hard work of many people in my department, who have been working 24/7, we were able to announce, on October 21, the authorization of the adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine. This means that provinces and territories were able to begin last week, on October 26, the largest vaccination campaign in our country's history. To date, six million doses of adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine have been delivered to the provinces and territories. That is currently more H1N1 vaccine per capita than any other country in the world.
We have sufficient vaccines for high-risk populations that need it. Many more Canadians will continue to get their shots over the coming weeks as more vaccine becomes available. Let me make one point very clear. There is not a shortage of vaccine. Every Canadian will be able to have the vaccine by Christmas.
There has been a tremendous uptake since the campaign began. We are encouraged by the fact that Canadians see the importance of being vaccinated against this pandemic flu. Provinces and territories are reporting many thousands of Canadians getting their shots. Right now, jurisdictions are giving more vaccine per day than they have ever given in history. There will be enough H1N1 vaccine available in Canada for everyone who needs and wants to be immunized. Not a single person will be left out.
Because we know that it would be impossible to vaccinate everyone in the country at one time, the Government of Canada, in co-operation with the provinces and territories, jointly determined sequencing guidelines for the distribution of the H1N1 flu vaccine. It is important for these guidelines to be implemented and respected. That is why we have started distributing the vaccine ahead of schedule so health care workers and Canadians at high risk of severe complications could be first in line to receive the vaccine.
In addition, I would like to remind colleagues that the northern isolated communities of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have received their entire allotment of adjuvanted vaccine and will be able to have their populations vaccinated within two weeks.
Our goal is to have vaccinated every Canadian who needs and wants it by Christmas. This will be an incredible help to us in the fight against the spread of H1N1.
However, in broad terms, all of this is just the beginning. The flu season in Canada traditionally lasts until April. I know my colleagues, the parliamentary secretary to myself and members of Parliament will provide more details on our response so far, but I will also say that all of these efforts are a testament to the planning and to the strengthened systems we have nurtured over the past few years. Our response to the H1N1 flu virus began as soon as we were informed.
As the House knows, the World Health Organization officially declared an H1N1 pandemic in June. What is different this time around relative to previous pandemics is that we are better prepared than we have ever been before.
The reason is the Government of Canada is working from a strong framework, the Canadian pandemic influenza plan. It is a plan built on years of collaboration with provinces, territories and the medical community. Its goals are to minimize serious illness and overall deaths and to minimize social disruption among Canadians as a result of an influenza pandemic. That plan is constantly being fine-tuned. We are continuing to work on all the recommended preparedness activities and outstanding issues it outlines.
To help in rolling out pandemic plans and response, we continue to develop and update guidance documents for such concerns as clinical care for pregnant women. In fact, just last week, we released three new sets of guidelines. We released guidelines on how Canadians can reduce the spread of H1N1 flu virus while they are traveling. These guidelines help clarify how passengers, crews, travel agencies and operators can help reduce the spread of infection on planes, trains, ferries and buses.
We also issued guidance to assist those in remote and isolated communities, homes to some of our most vulnerable population. Our guidance on clinical management of patients with influenza-like illnesses will help doctors, nurses and other health care providers provide the care that residents in remote and isolated communities need.
The third guidance document will assist remote and isolated communities across Canada develop a plan for mass immunization. This is critical because health care services in many remote and isolated communities are carried out in small to medium-sized nursing stations and health centres by a small number of staff.
Because of the unique health challenges that remote and isolated communities face, we will be issuing several more guidance documents over the coming weeks to ensure that those who live far from the large urban centres in southern Canada receive the health care services they need to stay healthy.
Other supporting documents are being updated based on more recent data and experience we have seen during the influenza outbreak. This has laid the foundation for us. It is the strongest example possible of the spirit of collaboration.
Since the outset I have stressed the importance of collaboration in every action taken to manage the outbreak on behalf of Canadians. Our response has been supported by systematic ongoing contact with the World Health Organization and other international partners.
Within our borders we have made a concerted, coordinated effort to share information and lessons learned with our provincial and territorial counterparts. Experts and decision-makers from all jurisdictions from the entire spectrum of public health management have come together to ensure an appropriate and timely response to the outbreak.
From day one we have been working with first nations leaders and provinces. We are working to ensure that communities have everything they need in a timely manner based on the best public health advice, and of course we are committed to making sure first nations have the support they need to protect their communities.
As we move forward we are increasing efforts to make sure H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines get to those Canadians who need and want them the most. I am confident that the actions taken so far along with our continued efforts this fall and winter will continue to serve Canadians well. While the course of this pandemic may have been unexpected, we have demonstrated our ability to adapt quickly and effectively to rapidly changing events.
On October 29, we learned from our supplier GSK that the quantity of vaccine to be shipped to the provinces and territories would be, for the short term, much lower than expected. While we had known before that there might be less vaccine available, we had no idea until then the extent of the shortfall. When I found out and when we found out, we advised the provinces and territories immediately.
The temporary reduction in supply was caused by the fact that GSK can produce only one type of vaccine, adjuvanted or non-adjuvanted, at a time. It needed to shut down production of adjuvanted vaccine in order to comply with its commitment to producing non-adjuvanted vaccine for pregnant women.
This temporary shutdown combined with the earlier-than-expected authorization and roll-out of the vaccine caused the reduction we are now seeing. However, GSK assures us that it will be back up to providing the provinces and territories with millions of doses over the coming weeks. We are in constant contact with GSK on its production schedule. We have begun posting information on the expected supply on our website and sharing this information with the provinces and territories.
We are dealing with a very new disease and we have been working and will continue to work as quickly as possible given these circumstances. This government's planning efforts have paid off. No matter what else comes our way, we are well prepared. We plan to continue regular media briefings and get information out to Canadians quickly and effectively through advertising and otherwise.
We are committed to ongoing collaboration, transparency and communication. These are the tools that will help us prevent the spread of H1N1 and manage the outbreak and get us through this pandemic.
Health November 2nd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, six million vaccines have been distributed across the country. We will continue to deliver vaccines to the provinces and territories. Thirty-three million Canadians will be able to receive the vaccine by Christmas.
We will continue to work with the provinces and territories as we respond to this pandemic and assist them in their rollouts.
Health November 2nd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the member should know by now that the provinces and territories deliver health care.
This government has produced six million vaccines and has distributed those to the provinces and territories. Each province and territory will then roll out its vaccine campaign based on its infrastructure systems by jurisdiction.
Currently, we have more H1N1 vaccines in Canada on a per capita basis than any other country. There will be sufficient H1N1 vaccines for every Canadian who wants it or needs it by Christmas.
Health November 2nd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, six million vaccines have been delivered to provinces and territories. Thousands more and a million more will be sent out to provinces and territories.
Canada currently has more H1N1 vaccine per capita compared to other countries and there will be sufficient H1N1 vaccine for every Canadian by December. This is one way Canadians can protect themselves from H1N1.
Health November 2nd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, GSK had overstated its production abilities for the last week. As soon as I became aware of the situation, I communicated to the provincial health ministers so they were aware of what was coming before them.
Thousands will be distributed this week. Millions more will be produced next week. By Christmas, every Canadian will be able to receive the vaccine.