Health committee  Thank you for the question. I think, yes, the number of tests—and by that, I mean PCR tests—being done around the country has been reduced, but of course rapid tests have come into play. We don't have samples from those rapid tests in order to look for variants or sequencing, but there are quite a lot of samples being done every day from which we can do sequencing.

Health committee  We of course have to observe this over time, because many people got boosted more recently. What we're seeing is that third doses do increase protection against infection or symptomatic disease and, therefore, transmission, but that does decline over time. We're just trying to plot to see how fast that waning occurs.

Health committee  Mr. Chair, I'll take this question. That is correct. We are seeing some of the highest rates of infection as well as hospitalizations in the very young. The most senior populations still have the highest risks, but not surprisingly, if the younger children get sick, since they have smaller airways they can get sicker than others, as is the case with other respiratory viruses.

Health committee  Thank you for your question. I think the most important thing is the global surveillance system, as you've said. Because surveillance has improved and genomics have improved, we are able to monitor these variants. Yes, it's quite possible for these variants to come from countries that have lower vaccination rates, but I think this virus is evolving.

Health committee  That would be a cabinet decision.

Health committee  Yes, I'll take that question. Despite the change in the spike protein through different variants, up until omicron, two doses of vaccine retained really good vaccine effectiveness against the most prominent ones, even though we were monitoring for waning immunity. When omicron arrived, even though it looked significantly different from the delta and preceding variants, through our vaccine effectiveness estimates, a boost provided at least an initial protection of 60%, as a range, against infection and symptomatic disease, and over 90% vaccine effectiveness against severe disease with the third dose.

Health committee  That's unpredictable, because in that scenario, you can potentially have a virus that goes somewhat under the radar, maybe developing in an immunocompromised host—

Health committee  In my view, no. As I just said in my last response, we are in a transition phase. An endemic period is where we have much more predictability in the pattern of this virus and can then anticipate a more regularized response, if you like. We're not there yet, so we have to be careful.

Health committee  That is not my decision to make. I would encourage everybody, whether there is a mandate or not, to continue to wear a mask in indoor public settings when you're not with people who are in your household.

Health committee  At the height of a sixth wave, no, I don't think we should be lifting mask recommendations or mandates.

Health committee  I don't think we know the probability, and that's not modelling. It's scenario planning, to clarify that particular presentation. You have to account for both of those scenarios. We don't really know, but I think it definitely could happen, and we need to plan for it.

Health committee  Mr. Chair, maybe I will take this question. That's a very important question. Of course, we are learning about both the virus and the vaccines over time. The duration of the protection of the vaccine, which we saw as extremely good with two doses of vaccine at the start, really shifted when the omicron variant appeared.

Health committee  I think that at the moment we, together with the other chief medical officers, have been characterizing this period as a transition period. We hope we're passed the extreme acute phase, the crisis phase of the pandemic, but we're on the road to a more steady state. We're not there yet, so there's unpredictability in the timing of the waves and what variants might come along.

Health committee  Thank you for that question. I think that vaccines remain a cornerstone of our ongoing management of COVID-19, and it is really important to continue to encourage uptake of the first two doses but also the boosters now for up-to-date vaccination. I think there are a number of reasons why, for example, the booster rates are not as high as for the first two doses, and we need to understand better and address those issues.

Health committee  Mr. Chair, I thank the member for her question. This is an extremely important question because mental health is of course very important. The overall health of the population—even before the pandemic—is something we have to address in a more concerted manner, but the pandemic has had a really significant impact on mental health across numerous populations, not just because people are worried about the virus.