Health committee  Bear in mind that, when we were negotiating the contracts, we had no idea which vaccine would work, so we negotiated on the basis of the scientific data available at the time. The data have continued to evolve, and Pfizer is now telling us that another dose may be needed.

Health committee  We can purchase many doses of the current vaccine or conclude an agreement for the next version of the vaccine. The talks are ongoing. As Mr. Lucas said, if the product changes, it has to go to Health Canada for approval.

Health committee  Thank you, Chair. On price per dose, you can't compare country to country, because other countries actually invested directly with the manufacturers. I don't have the specifics, but it's not as simple as that. You have U.K. and U.S. manufacturing occurring. The location of man

Health committee  At that time, no, we didn't. All the contracts were confidential, and many of them continue to be confidential.

Health committee  Number one, we had discussions with AstraZeneca. We talked about locations. On the volume issue, I'm speculating a bit, but based on experience in procurements, it matters. I can't say specifically in AZ, but the size of the order certainly matters.

Health committee  We were in a world.... With vaccines, it's the same story as PPE. These are effectively a short commodity with great competition, so essentially you negotiate as best you can, but it's certainly a seller's market. It continues to be so in the vaccine market.

Health committee  No, I wouldn't accept that at all. In fact, in many cases, Canada was one of the first countries negotiating. That has never been brought up as a factor.

Health committee  Mr. Chair, again, I can't comment on the comparability, because when you have governments investing directly into manufacturing, like the U.K. and the U.S. did, I'm not sure I can make that comparison.

Health committee  No. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that governments that subsidize the manufacturing of vaccines end up with a different deal, where they're actually—

Health committee  AstraZeneca's not manufactured in Canada, so we're dealing with a straight price-per-dose model here, as opposed to a broader manufacturing discussion.

Health committee  Mr. Chair, I'm not accepting the comparison, simply because I can't speak to whether there is a premium here or not. I can tell you that we negotiated in good faith with all suppliers and it was definitely a seller's market.

Health committee  The only thing I can offer here, Mr. Chair, is that location of manufacturing is an important consideration in the price discussions across the board, so I'm not commenting specifically on AstraZeneca and I can't comment on the suggestion that it's double.

Health committee  I'm not sure what you're using as a comparative figure, Mr. Chair, in this case, so I would have to get back to you.

Health committee  There are a couple of things here, Mr. Chair. Number one, location and manufacturing are important in terms of considering price. As I mentioned before, the U.S., in particular, had some investments in the companies. The rest I can't speak to, except for the EU. Just remember t

Health committee  I'd have to go back and check. I haven't seen that email; I apologize, but I just.... For members, Mr. Chair, on the EU front, I think it's worth noting there are two cost components, the price paid by the member state as well as that paid by the EU itself.