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Results: 1 - 15 of 173
View Tony Van Bynen Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you.
Throughout this entire study and even through our previous study, we heard from numerous witnesses about the importance of sharing health data across Canada. While we've mostly heard about this in the context of COVID-19, I think it's applicable to other health-related contexts.
Do you see a benefit in such a system, and if so, would it impact the efforts to prevent and to manage diseases across the country?
Theresa Tam
View Theresa Tam Profile
Theresa Tam
2021-05-21 11:55
Mr. Chair, that is a very important question.
I think public health policy should be driven by data. We have had data presented, and it has to come from the local level up to the national level, so I do think we've seen data improve over time. This is the first pandemic where we're having case-by-case data reported nationally through the pan-Canadian health data strategy. With the safe restart agreements and the resources being provided to the provinces and territories, we have seen improvements in the data being gathered, including on race, indigeneity and occupation. That has improved, and that kind of improvement must be taken forward as we look to keep going and strengthening that data system.
Kashif Pirzada
View Kashif Pirzada Profile
Kashif Pirzada
2021-02-22 12:07
As an emergency physician in Toronto, I've seen many people unfortunately pass away from COVID. I was also a key member of Conquer COVID-19, a community group that helped source PPE at the start of the crisis, and Masks4Canada, which successfully advocated for mask-wearing bylaws across the country.
My attitude, and that of many of my colleagues, is that we have a mess here, but let's see what we can do to fix it and save lives. That's how we approach our patients and that's how we should approach this crisis.
Drug and vaccine shortages are not a new issue. They've only been made worse now in this pandemic. It has been an ongoing health security issue for over a decade now in Canada.
In August 2020, we sent an open letter to the Prime Minister's Office detailing our concerns and highlighting some realistic and cost-effective solutions to include domestic manufacturing. The letter is co-signed by the Canadian Medical Association, the Ontario Medical Association and many other national bodies.
Our current vaccine shortage shares a common route with drug shortages: the lack of dependable and scalable domestic manufacturing. We have the following three recommendations.
One, Canada needs local production of drugs and vaccines. mRNA is a new technology that has incredible potency in fighting COVID-19, cancers and possibly other viruses. When I was a lab student 20 years ago, this stuff was science fiction, and the advances made are just incredible. With virus variants, we all need periodic boosters, possibly for years, as we do with the flu. We have the expertise, from the testimony we heard earlier, from companies such as Acuitas and Providence Therapeutics that can make it here. It is also the promise of second-generation genetic vaccines that can induce longer immunity, and these companies are working on it, the ones that we spoke to.
It's great that federal funding is flowing to these companies now, but this support needs to continue. This is a nascent industry, and the technology underlying it is going to revolutionize pharmaceuticals, cancer care and agriculture. It's crucial that we get on board now. It's great that it's also in the provinces that are losing other traditional industries. These are thousands of high-quality jobs. Therefore, it's a win-win for the country.
Our second point is that science coordination and communication needs to improve in this country. We are losing a head-to-head comparison with the U.K., the U.S., Israel and many other countries. The U.K. was able to mobilize a unified effort across industry, academia and government and had a cabinet-level post of vaccine minister.
I'll give you an example just from my personal history. I, along with half of my U of T class in 2003, was quarantined during SARS after inadvertent exposures. Many of us survivors from that time have been trying to get attention on issues such as PPE, drugs and vaccines, but there's no one to talk to, no network to access and no way to warn the government about what we knew was coming back in 2020. We need to involve grassroots frontline providers, scientists and industry leaders in a regular network of advisory groups like the U.K. does. Get the meetings online, make them public, get the deliberations public and that's how you share information freely.
Our third point is that we have some grave concerns from the front lines on the vaccine scale-up and rollout. The rollout so far to health care workers has been fairly chaotic. Many rural providers have not gotten their doses. If the government can't get this right with a smaller population like that, what are the chances it's going to work for 37 million Canadians?
We should keep things simple, as the U.K. has done. Avoid overly complex criteria and tell the public about plans. Be transparent. Who is getting it, when and where? Focus on the most important thing of all, which is getting vaccines into people's arms as quickly as possible.
Another point we've discovered is that community providers have not been engaged in the vaccine rollout so far. Family physicians and pharmacists can deliver millions of doses a week, but they're not involved. They have access to and good insight into vulnerable patients and communities, unlike others.
Another frontline insight is that some have been able to squeeze extra half doses out the Moderna vials and combine them into a single dose, but they are being discarded right now because there's no approval for unorthodox procedures like that. However, in a crisis such this, we should look at any option.
Our final point on the vaccine rollout is that we should seriously consider giving a single dose of the vaccine to as many Canadians as possible. Just today, we have seen seven schools in B.C. closed because of outbreaks and likely airborne spread of the South African variant, which is widespread in the city of Toronto now, in Mississauga. Variants are spreading quickly: in my own hospital log, a dozen last week and five more today. They're more contagious and likely airborne.
We should take pride that we've vaccinated many long-term care patients. However, we are discounting the long-term consequences of even mild COVID-19 infections on younger populations. We should not assume that if they only get mild or moderate illness they're fine. In fact, 15% of them will get what's called “long COVID syndrome”. They'll have memory issues, chronic pain and chronic fatigue, and this will last possibly for years. They won't be able to go to school or work in their jobs. Normally healthy, able-bodied people will have their quality of life ruined and forced onto long-term disability at extreme cost to themselves and their families, and this might even affect children. Imagine if 15% of our children couldn't taste anything or had chronic pain and were unable to go to school.
In summary, as frontline workers battling this pandemic, we recommend that we build vaccine and drug capacity in Canada, we improve communication with frontline workers, decision-makers, and finally we ensure we have an effective vaccine rollout and protect as many as Canadians as quickly as possible with the first dose of the vaccine.
Thank you very much.
View Michelle Rempel Garner Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Chair.
With regard to the statement that the minister just made, data has been a problem, especially at the federal level. My question is for Mr. Lucas or Mr. Stewart.
Have your departments given the government any advice to use various legislative mechanisms? I know that there are some available under, for example, the Statistics Act, to compel the provinces to provide data to the federal government in a more meaningful way as it comes to collecting information on how COVID is being transmitted and the efficacy of various interventions with regard to preventing the spread.
Les Linklater
View Les Linklater Profile
Les Linklater
2020-11-20 14:23
We have been taking a very collaborative approach with provinces and territories around the collection and aggregation of data across the country, particularly as it relates to COVID-19, through the special advisory committee that was referenced earlier, which includes public health officials from across the country—
View Michelle Rempel Garner Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Mr. Linklater. That wasn't the question I asked. I have a very short period of time, so I'll take that as no, there's been no advice to the government on using any sort of legislative mechanism to get that information in a federal repository. Is that correct?
Les Linklater
View Les Linklater Profile
Les Linklater
2020-11-20 14:24
Our focus has been on working collaboratively with provinces and territories.
View Michelle Rempel Garner Profile
CPC (AB)
This morning the Prime Minister suggested that businesses were better off because of lockdowns, and as a legislator, I've been trying to figure out, especially given the amount in these estimates, if the measures that have been put in place are actually working, especially given the projections on new caseloads.
I'm wondering if you could point me to any publicly available federal data that has been used—I guess this would be for Mr. Linklater—to suggest that repetitive COVID lockdown has a better impact on Canadian society than the negative societal impact of, let's say, job losses, mental health as was just discussed, or being separated from family.
I'm just trying to look at.... That's a big statement that was made this morning. Is there a publicly available repository of federal data, federally collected data, that I could use as a legislator to evaluate that statement?
Les Linklater
View Les Linklater Profile
Les Linklater
2020-11-20 14:28
If I understand correctly, the question is with regard to the use of data for the development of broader relief programs. Relief programming is beyond the ambit of the Department of Health. Many departments, including the Department of Finance and others, would be intimately involved in developing those types of programs, based on various datasets.
View Michelle Rempel Garner Profile
CPC (AB)
Ostensibly, we're managing to prevent the spread of COVID, but we've seen the number of COVID cases rise, so what data would parliamentarians be using right now at the federal levels on interventions that are being suggested, including economic lockdowns? They have a greater impact on the health of Canadians. They are actually having a negative impact on things like mental health and job losses. Have you provided any recommendations to the government to put together a better data repository that could be used to evaluate those particular questions? They're top of mind for many Canadians.
Les Linklater
View Les Linklater Profile
Les Linklater
2020-11-20 14:29
As I mentioned earlier, the common dataset that's been agreed to by public health officials has been one of the key developments in trying to bring a more holistic public health data lens to COVID.
I would suggest Dr. Tam may wish to add to this point, given her exposure to this as a clinician.
Theresa Tam
View Theresa Tam Profile
Theresa Tam
2020-11-20 14:30
The measures, in terms of restrictive public health measures, are done by the provinces or local health units using their data, so they have flexibility on that. We do not suggest one way or another which kind of measures should be enacted.
Provinces have been providing us with their case data, and this new national dataset has a bit more information, including race-based data, but StatsCan—
View Michelle Rempel Garner Profile
CPC (AB)
Sorry; I have just 30 seconds left, and I wanted to clarify this. For example, I know we don't have occupational health data from certain provinces and whatnot. Has there been no effort to date to recommend to the government a more extensive federal data-gathering system from the provinces on, let's say, the efficacy of lockdown?
Theresa Tam
View Theresa Tam Profile
Theresa Tam
2020-11-20 14:31
There's investment that people have already mentioned, but it's to develop a national health data strategy. That is the recommendation—
View Matt Jeneroux Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here today. It is fascinating testimony indeed.
Dr. Siddiqi, just to follow up on something you said, have you had success in obtaining some of the demographic information that you've talked about outside of just the greater Toronto area? More specifically, is there data on the location of cases available across Canada?
I know, for instance, that Ontario has a map that highlights COVID clusters, but is there anything being provided at the federal level that would be helpful to you?
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