Finance committee  We can try to see how much leeway we have from the standpoint of public immunization programs.

Finance committee  You were wondering about the price?

Finance committee  That's a very good question. As a matter of fact, before the National Immunization Strategy was established, Canada looked pretty bad, quite frankly. If you look at the situation in terms of the geographic regions of Canada it was a patchwork. The rich provinces had immunization programs.

Finance committee  In fact, when a new vaccine is available, it's a very effective public health measure, and most industrialized countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, most of the countries of Europe as well as Australia, adopt national immunization strategies. Health care is an area of provincial jurisdiction, except that when it comes to public health, viruses don't know borders and they spread from one province to another.

Finance committee  For the population to be immunized? The vaccine must be given to at least 85 to 90% of the citizens. Otherwise, we see cases such as in the U.K., where at one point they stopped vaccinating against measles. There was an increase in infections and many deaths. That was just a few years ago.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Christian Blouin. I am the Director of Public Health Policy and Government Relations for Merck Frosst Canada. I am accompanied by my colleague Rob Livingston, Ottawa Director of Merck Frosst, who will serve as a resource person for me during the question period.