Public Accounts committee  Perhaps I'll take the question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Overall, in terms of our vaccine wastage, by the end of the calendar year we had 12 million doses of vaccine in federal inventory that had expired. Some of those would have included the residual...in terms of the donation. I would offer, though—it's fundamentally important to note—that these doses were put on offer.

Public Accounts committee  No. We've moved—

Public Accounts committee  In terms of our collaboration with the provinces and territories, we've been working since early 2022 to look at the CAEFISS system and at VaccineConnect as it evolves into the new version of that system, to ensure that we have all of the relevant fields incorporated. Another aspect of this, obviously, is working with provinces and territories and local vaccine administrators to ensure that they submit the data that is required to be able to have that disaggregated information, as you've noted.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, perhaps I'll take a moment to explain how we worked throughout the pandemic with provinces and territories on vaccine distribution. We work as an intermediary between, obviously, the provinces and territories and then down to the local level and the vaccine companies.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much. In the context of vaccine donations, I think the number you're referring to is in the context of some AstraZeneca doses that we had. I think you referred to 13 million doses that expired. Those were put on offer in 2021, as soon as we were able to make them available.

Public Accounts committee  The 13-million dose number that you cited for AstraZeneca were the doses that were lost because they were not able to be placed. The remainder were donated to countries. To bring precision to what Dr. Kochhar mentioned in terms of the countries we were able to support both through COVAX and through bilateral donations, we've been able to provide doses to 37 countries around the world.

Public Accounts committee  AstraZeneca vaccines. Yes.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would only add that this year alone we've been able to invest an additional $5.3 million in projects to reach under-reached and marginalized communities, including indigenous and racialized communities. I would also add that in the context of vaccine confidence, we continue to work with the provinces and territories and with the regulator in terms of vaccine safety and ensuring that Canadians have the latest, most up-to-date information in terms of the overall safety and efficacy of the vaccines that we have available to us.

Health committee  Thank you, Dr. Tam.

Health committee  I would offer that we've consistently communicated to Canadians that vaccination is one of the most important measures to protect themselves and to protect others.

Health committee  Thank you. I would add that, as it was stated earlier, two doses of vaccine still offer considerable protection in terms of severe disease. Fundamentally, in the context of our objective of reducing hospitalizations, severe illness and death, two doses perform well. We know, as well, that three doses perform better, and that's why we're encouraging Canadians to get their booster.

Health committee  In terms of encouraging Canadians to take the third dose as we continue to work very closely with our provincial and territorial partners in the context of communication to Canadians, Dr. Tam is out frequently reminding Canadians of the importance of keeping their vaccinations up to date, including third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Health committee  No, I would just echo Dr. Tam's comment that our current agreements with Moderna allow us to access new formulations when they're approved by the regulator. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Health committee  Mr. Chair, I would suggest that I take that question. PHAC works very closely with provinces and territories to ensure that procurement and allocation strategies align with the requirements and demands of individual jurisdictions. When there are doses surplus to Canada's need, Canada makes every effort to make them available to countries through COVAX with sufficient shelf life.

Health committee  We work very closely with Global Affairs Canada and international bodies like COVAX to make doses available as soon as we can, so that they can be used if needed by other countries. We have made doses available to COVAX, and they are in the process of identifying countries that can take them.