Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. That was a complex question. I will maybe speak to the modelling that was presented, and Mr. Bent may have some additional commentary. We displayed modelling that shows that the introduction of variants is one factor that affects the epidemic curve. We see

Health committee  Mr. Chair, on the issue of the changes in the outbreak dynamics and the impact of public health measures, as has been mentioned previously, modelling was released today that shows a number of different scenarios, including the maintenance of current public health measures and the

Health committee  Mr. Chair, that is a question that is a moving point as we learn more about the interplay of this virus. We continue to learn more on a daily basis about transmission dynamics, and now we have the additional layer of complexity introduced by variants of concern, which have differ

Health committee  Mr. Chair, on this issue, data is not a fixed concept. We continue to learn more and to learn about this and add to our understanding of the transmission dynamics. The modelling that was released today demonstrates a number of different scenarios, including one where variants of

Health committee  Mr. Chair, I'll answer, and Ms. Elmslie may have additional comments. The necessary level of protection is a dynamic question as we continue to learn more about the effect of variants of concern on long-term efficacy of the vaccine. We also need to understand the duration of imm

Health committee  The issue of severity is one of the markers that would elevate a variant to a variant of concern. The determination of increase in severity is work that has been under way for the three variants of concerns most reported to date. Preliminary results from the U.K. suggest that the

Health committee  Just to be clear, the modelling that was released today was looking at epidemic curves and the potential interplay of the addition of variants to that. They were not specifically looking at the impact of different vaccine rollouts.

Health committee  Different approaches to the vaccine rollout were not considered in the models today. It's specifically looking at one dose versus two doses.

Health committee  Just to build on that, the vaccine science is certainly an area of ongoing focus and interest in terms of evaluations within animal models, but more tellingly, some of these studies will need to occur in human clinical trials. As we continue to learn more about vaccine variants a

Health committee  There's a range of funding mechanisms to tackle these types of studies, including pre-clinical studies that can be done within laboratories as well as human clinical trials that could be funded through a number of different mechanisms, including the Canadian Institutes of Health

Health committee  I'd let Dr. Quach-Thanh answer that question, but she left the meeting, unfortunately. Perhaps Ms. Elmslie could answer it.

Health committee  With respect to the protection afforded by these vaccines, it's important to put the effect of neutralization antibodies into the broader context. With respect to the degree of neutralization that's elicited, it is one of the proxy measures for efficacy, but a particular threshol

Health committee  The interplay of vaccines and the emergence of variants is a complex question that we are monitoring. We will note that the emergence of variants of concern began before vaccine rollout programs occurred with the first notable one being in August 2020 with D614G. Therefore, as we

Health committee  The investment of $53 million represents a multipronged approach to the response to variants of concern, including establishing a robust mechanism to detect rapidly and further characterize variants of concern. This represents a partnership of the National Microbiology Laborato

Health committee  That's correct.