Industry committee  I fully agree with you. The start line does matter, because the faster and sooner we go, the faster we get to the end. I somewhat disagree that it takes years and years. We have seen great innovation and great realization across the world. In Canada, I think we can do the same.

Industry committee  Yes, that's correct. In particular, there were conflicts of interest.

Industry committee  That's my understanding as well.

Industry committee  It wasn't necessarily in protest of that. Mostly, I didn't want to be associated with a group that had what I would call underlying problems.

Industry committee  The lack of transparency was one. As I said, the task force was formed and became public knowledge somewhat by accident. After that, the members did not want to be identified publicly on a website. Some seemed to be under the impression that, because they were volunteering their time, nothing else mattered.

Industry committee  I would say that something that is missing and that would help tremendously is a follow-up on all the projects that are receiving funding. This would mean that the ones that are doing very well could get more support and the ones that are a bit delayed could be deprioritized. This was missing from the beginning, and it would be a strong improvement, from my perspective.

Industry committee  It's an important question, so thank you. One model that comes to mind is a partnership between industry, which is already well-equipped to overcome a number of challenges and push ahead with vaccine production, and any academic, government or other institution with the capacity to come up with new technologies.

Industry committee  Thank you so much. This is a question that comes up more often to me, which highlights the lack of transparency. Otherwise, people would know a lot of answers to many questions. I myself am still learning of some apparent conflicts of interest of the task force members. Again, this past Monday I learned that some members had stock in one of the big pharmas that was discussed and disclosed it as not a conflict of interest.

Industry committee  There are a number of similarities and differences. Great Britain opted to deploy all its efforts from the outset. In mid-February, it held a meeting in Geneva and invited a handful of international representatives, including myself. From the get-go, Great Britain decided to provide maximum support to three initiatives, one being the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is in production and has been approved in more than 50 countries to date.

Industry committee  Thank you for your question. We can always do better. In Canada's response to a public health crisis, an important area for improvement is the lack of independence and political neutrality of advisory committees across the country. Dr. Nemer has done a fantastic job when it comes to networking and collaboration.

Industry committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. My name is Gary Kobinger. I'm a professor in infectious diseases at Université Laval and former chief of the special pathogen program at the national lab in Winnipeg. My expertise sits on the development of diagnostic tests, vaccines and therapeutics against emerging and re-emerging pathogens as well as outbreak responses on the ground in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Health committee  The answer is yes, we should. Media was also present for the meeting at the WHO, which could also be done here.

Health committee  Absolutely, they should have been reviewed before starting the work with this task force, like for every other.... I do conflict of interest statements monthly for the WHO. They are due before we open the line. If they are not done, we cannot participate.

Health committee  This is just a matter of opinion. There was evidence of conflicts of interest, at least from my perspective, including that one member sold the equipment for $20 million, while being on the task force to the federal government for doing fill and finish. I think this was information that was, unfortunately, not reviewed, in my view, by an independent ethics committee to assess conflict of interest.

Health committee  Thank you for your question. There have, however, been some major investments, notably in AbCellera. The National Research Council of Canada, NRC, received $56 million for the vaccine from CanSino Biologics, which went nowhere. There have been other major investments. One of the main challenges is not the investment itself, but rather how investments are sent to the right places and how they are monitored.