Health committee  Mr. Chair, the supply of these medications isn't really in the purview of the Public Health Agency. I will say that, of course, prevention is key, and that getting up to date with vaccinations is one way of preventing certain respiratory infections. Certainly there are other way

Health committee  That's an important point, and, for sure, we have different roles and responsibilities between the federal, provincial, territorial and local governments, but it is important to hear from communities, so that's a really good suggestion. All I am saying is that I know that my col

Health committee  Of course I always work with the other chief medical officers, and it is their responsibility as well for their own communities, but we also have regional offices of the Public Health Agency that are placed across Canada. They have been our eyes and ears on the ground to the loca

Health committee  I have been fortunate to be able to go to Montreal, Quebec, but also to Vancouver. However, no, I have not travelled extensively, but as I said, we have many staff who are on the ground.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can't comment on the specifics of any such reviews and inquiries. All I have to say is that we've just been through the biggest pandemic of the current era. It is very important to take note of lessons learned and be as objective as we can. The inputs fro

Health committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for that question and further clarification. I would just emphasize that we have to look at the point in time at which these different organizations are communicating. Right now it's not just Canada. The United States, the European regulatory agencies and in

Health committee  It is very important that we communicate clearly with Canadians. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization has been very clear: If you haven't had a booster or you haven't been infected within the last six months, please go and get your vaccine up to date. This is after H

Health committee  Yes. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization—and Dr. Matthew Tunis is here with us—made a recommendation to preferentially use the bivalent vaccine, both Moderna and Pfizer now that we have them, because it contains both the original virus strain and the omicron variant

Health committee  Health Canada, of course, has a well-established process in evaluating both the safety and the immunogenicity of the vaccines. After any vaccine is launched, we will have post-implementation studies, especially on safety, but also on effectiveness. As you've indicated, millions

Health committee  Thank you very much for this question. This is an incredibly timely question, because our public research and surveys have demonstrated that people are interested in an updated vaccine. People do understand that respiratory virus season is upon us, and people are going to get fu

Health committee  At the current time, there are descendants of omicron variants and subvariants, but we haven't detected any very extraordinary appearances, as yet. That is a scenario for which we're planning ahead. For example, a very distinct immune escape, where vaccines or treatments don't wo

Health committee  Mr. Chair, thank you to the member for that question. On BA.2.75, indeed, BA.2.75.2 is the specific sublineage that we're monitoring. It's part of the group that I mentioned in response to the last question. The BA.2.75 and its sublineages currently represent 1.1% of the sequenc

Health committee  Yes, its growth has been observed, but it's stalled. It's slowing. On the contrary, BQ.1.1—I think some news media have been covering that sublineage, which is a descendant of BA.5—has a faster growth estimate at this point. It represents only 0.6% of our current sequencing that

Health committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the question. Of course, many of these measures are taken at the local and provincial levels, as well, not just by the federal government. The current status of public health measures is decided more at that local level. I think it's a combination of

Health committee  I think it is great that, during the pandemic, more capacity has been provided for us to monitor genomics and other characteristics of variants of concern. The Public Health Agency of Canada and, indeed, our National Microbiology Laboratory, as well as provincial, territorial and