ITEM 1: Vaccine Rollout Data

Senator Marshall: Thank you. Is there somebody here who can talk about the vaccine roll outs? I saw Major-General Fortin testify at a Commons health committee last week and he was talking about the roll out. Is there somebody here who can talk about the roll out? I understand that there is a monitoring of the vaccines and the roll out in the various provinces, and there is information available with regard to how Canada is doing in relation to other countries, but is there a ranking for provinces like what is available for countries? Is there something on one of your websites?

Ms. Levesque: Thank you. We do publish data on our website about the roll out itself, both doses delivered and doses administered in each jurisdiction. As you know, it is a provincial- territorial responsibility to administer the vaccines, but we do track those on our website and we watch them carefully. We don’t do a ranking across the board. It is reported by jurisdiction.

Senator Marshall: Is it disclosed so that I can tell which jurisdiction is slow and which jurisdiction is leading the pack?

Ms. Levesque: There are myriad factors underpinning each jurisdiction’s vaccine roll out, but that information is publicly available, senator. We can make sure to provide the website in writing to the chair of the committee afterwards, or to the Senate.

Senator Elizabeth Marshall (Conservative Party, Newfoundland and Labrador)

Official: Kaili Levesque (Vice President, PHAC)

RESPONSE:

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) publishes data on the number of vaccine doses administered and on vaccine coverage. The number of doses administered (https://health- infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccine-administration/) and vaccine coverage (https://health- infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccination-coverage/) are broken down by province and territory.

RÉSPONSE:

L’agence de la santé publique du Canada (ASPC) publie des données sur le nombre de doses de vaccin administrées et sur la couverture vaccinale. Le nombre de doses administrées (https://sante-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccins-administres/) et la couverture vaccinale (https://sante-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/couverture-vaccinale/) sont ventilés par province et territoire.

ITEM 2: Vaccine Rollout in Indigenous Communities

Senator Duncan: I would like to ask, in terms of a specific question, about the data management that’s outlined in the Public Health Agency of Canada’s supplementary request. There is money for investment in testing, contact tracing and data management. Could you elaborate on that money, particularly in terms of under-served areas of the country, with regard to internet or those provinces and territories that did not sign on to the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 tracing app? Could you elaborate on that funding and how well it’s working throughout the country?

Ms. Levesque: Good morning, senator. Thank you for your question. The specific amount that you were referencing under what are called the safe restart agreements, where $522 million was made available to provinces and territories specifically for data, is not tied to the use of the COVID alert app itself, to be clear. It’s more about the collection of public health data to understand the epidemiology of this tricky virus, as well as the tracking of the immunization, case counts, et cetera. It’s that level of data that we are discussing. And we are also collecting data on the immunization rollout itself, in addition to reports on adverse events or any of the information shared with the Public Health Agency of Canada through the provinces and territories. So it’s not linked to individual use at the mobile device level. Thank you.

Senator Duncan: What are we doing with that data? Are we able to access it in a public manner? Are we able to be assured, for example, that vaccine rollout is taking place in Indigenous communities and throughout the country? Are we able to track that information? Could I have that response in writing?

Senator Pat Duncan (ISG, Yukon)

Official: N/A

RESPONSE:

PHAC currently receives data on COIVD-19 vaccination in Indigenous communities from some provinces and territories. The number of doses administered (https://health- infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccine-administration/) and vaccine coverage (https://health- infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccination-coverage/) are broken down by province and territory. PHAC in collaboration with Statistics Canada is implementing the Canadian Vaccination Coverage Survey in March and it is expected that this survey will provide data on COVID-19 vaccine coverage in Indigenous communities.

RÉSPONSE:

L’ASPC reçoit actuellement des données sur la vaccination contre la COVID-19 dans les communautés autochtones de certaines provinces et certains territoires. Le nombre de doses administrées (https://sante-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccins-administres/) et la couverture vaccinale (https://sante-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/couverture-vaccinale/) sont ventilés par province et territoire. L’ASPC, en collaboration avec Statistique Canada, met en œuvre l’enquête canadienne sur la couverture vaccinale en mars et on s’attend à ce qu’elle fournisse des données sur la couverture vaccinale contre la COVID-19 dans les communautés autochtones.

ITEM 6: COVID Alert App Data

Senator Klyne: I just want to follow up on the line of thinking from Senator Duncan. In the supplementary estimates, the Public Health Agency is requesting $523 million for the Safe Restart Agreement with provinces and territories for investments in testing, contact tracing and data management. In addition, if I understand correctly, there is a request for a further $485 million to study alternative or better strategies for contact tracing.

The federal government put a lot of emphasis on and resources into the exposure notification app. Now there seems to be a focus on contact tracing. I have two questions, one around the exposure notification app and then a second line on contact tracing.

With regards to the exposure notification app, can you tell this committee how many times that app has been downloaded? How many exposure alerts have been sent to users? How many users have entered a key code indicating they have tested positive for COVID and got a warning from the app? What has been invested in the exposure notification app to date? Then I’ll ask about the contact tracing.

Mr. Krumins: Thank you for your question, senator. I would like to get back to the committee in writing with that response. I believe there is a component that resides with my colleagues at Health Canada.

Senator Marty Klyne: (PSG, Saskatchewan)

Official: Martin Krumins (CFO, PHAC)

RESPONSE:

As of Monday, March 8, 2021, there have been 6,361,424 downloads of the COVID Alert app and 21,048 users have entered a one-time-key indicating that they have tested positive for COVID-19. With the introduction of in-app metrics, data will be available in the coming weeks for the number of notifications stemming from the entry of one-time keys.

The Government of Canada has benefited from the collaborative efforts of many partners to develop and promote the app. This includes the volunteer work of Shopify employees, in coordination with the nonprofit Linux Foundation Public Health, who developed the code, and Blackberry employees who provided additional security reviews. The Canadian Digital Service, within the Treasury Board Secretariat, is providing in-house technical expertise.

The incremental cost incurred by the Canadian Digital Service to develop the app at the time it was launched in July 2020 was $480,000, which included surge staffing capacity, overtime costs, cloud infrastructure costs, and other costs such as testing equipment and security support to that point in time. The federal government has worked to implement a robust public awareness campaign with the goal of increasing the number of downloads and use of the app. The Government of Canada anticipates spending up to $16 million in the fiscal year 2020-21 across Canada to raise awareness and help increase uptake of the COVID Alert app by Canadians.

RÉSPONSE:

En date du lundi 8 mars 2021, l’application Alerte COVID a été téléchargée 6 361 424 fois et 21 048 utilisateurs ont entré une clé à usage unique indiquant qu’ils ont obtenu un résultat positif pour la COVID-19. Avec l’introduction de mesures incorporées à l’application, nous aurons les données pour le nombre de notifications découlant de l’entrée de clés à usage uniques dans les prochaines semaines.

Le gouvernement du Canada a bénéficié des efforts de collaboration de nombreux partenaires pour élaborer et promouvoir l’application. Cela comprend le travail bénévole des employés de Shopify, en coordination avec le Linux Foundation Public Health à but non lucratif, qui a conçu le code, et les employés de BlackBerry qui ont fourni des examens de sécurité supplémentaires. Le Service numérique canadien, au sein du Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor, fournit une expertise technique interne.

Au moment de son lancement en juillet 2020, le Service numérique canadien a engagé des coûts supplémentaires de 480 000 $, qui comprenaient la capacité de personnel supplémentaire, les heures supplémentaires, les coûts d’infrastructure infonuagique et d’autres coûts, comme les essais d’équipement et le soutien de la sécurité à ce moment-là.

Le gouvernement fédéral a travaillé à la mise en œuvre d’une solide campagne de sensibilisation du public dans le but d’augmenter le nombre de téléchargements et l’utilisation de l’application. Le gouvernement du Canada prévoit dépenser jusqu’à 16 millions de dollars en 2020-2021 dans l’ensemble du Canada pour sensibiliser les Canadiens et les aider à faire mieux connaître l’application Alerte COVID.

ITEM 7: P/T Contact Tracing

Senator Klyne: So that’s also going to be referred to Health Canada. The second one is concerning contact tracing. Can you tell this committee, since your last appearance, to what extent have provinces and territories improved their contact-tracing capacity? How and where will the monies being requested for testing, contact-tracing capacity and data management be used?

Second, are there any comments from Public Health regarding two different apps attempting to achieve the same goal? Are both being relied upon, or is one being deemed more appropriate at this stage of the pandemic? Thank you.

Mr. Krumins: Thank you, senator, for the question. We’ll come back to you in writing on this. I believe we will link up with our colleagues at Health Canada as well.

Senator Marty Klyne (PSG, Saskatchewan)

Official: Martin Krumins (PHAC, CFO)

RESPONSE:

As part of the Safe Restart Agreement (SRA), the Government made a commitment to support provinces and territories in safely restarting their economics and making Canada more resilient to future surges of COVID-19. Of the total $19 billion in federal investment under the SRA provided to provinces/territories, federal departments, and health organizations, $4.28 billon was allocated to support provinces/territories in increasing their testing capacity, perform contact tracing, and sharing critical public health information, and is broken down as follows: $3 billion was provided directly to provinces/territories in 2020-21 to cover the cost of testing and perform more contact tracing, in-line with individual commitments made by Premiers of each jurisdiction; and, $1.28 billion for federal initiatives (including purchasing testing components/consumables for provinces/territories, surge support for testing and contact tracing, improvements in data gathering for COVID-19 cases, including on race and Indigeneity) and to help offset unanticipated provincial/territorial expenses.

$30 million was allocated in 2020-21 for federal contact tracing surge support to provinces and territories. Through their agreement with Health Canada, Statistics Canada is leveraging their expertise to support 8 provinces and 1 territories with their contact tracing efforts. They have also been in discussion or established an agreement with the remaining 2 provinces and 2 territory to activate support if/when needed.

Statistics Canada's interviewers are highly skilled, have bilingual capacity, and proficiency in more than 35 languages. Statistics Canada currently has the capacity to conduct 17,020 total calls/day. Furthermore, of the SRA federal $1.28 billion, $194 million has been set aside to help provinces/territories in addressing their specific public health data management issues, such as closing COVID-19 data gaps, modernizing health information systems, and advancing the adoption of more common data and technical standards to streamline data collection, use and sharing. This funding will be allocated through a contribution program in response to provincial/territorial proposal requests. In regards to statement that Health Canada and PHAC have deployed two apps with different purposes, the COVID Alert app is a national, contact tracing, privacy protecting digital application for issuing exposure notifications. It serves as a tool to support the mobilization of Canadians and to help break the chains of transmission without collecting personal or geolocation data. Specifically, it supports contact tracing by helping to reduce the time between a positive test result and notifying exposed indications; and, informs exposed individuals on actions to take, such as self-monitoring and/or getting tested and isolated. To date, nine provinces and territories are using COVID Alert for issuing notifications in complementarity with contact tracing efforts. There are more than 6.3 million downloads of the app. The ArriveCan app and website, launched in April 2020, supports the digital sharing of mandatory public health information required from all travellers coming into Canada, with appropriate provincial and territorial partners. Submission of required public health information via ArriveCAN became mandatory at air ports of entry in November 2020 and at land borders in February 2021. This information facilitates quarantine planning, reduction of crowds at points of entry, and compliance and enforcement measures.

RÉSPONSE:

Dans le cadre de l’Accord sur la relance sécuritaire, le gouvernement s’est engagé à aider les provinces et les territoires à relancer leur économie en toute sécurité et à rendre le Canada plus résilient aux vagues futures de la COVID-19. Sur l’investissement fédéral total de 19 milliards de dollars dans le cadre de l’Accord sur la relance sécuritaire fournie aux provinces et aux territoires, aux ministères fédéraux et aux organismes de santé, 4,28 milliards de dollars ont été alloués pour aider les provinces et les territoires à accroître leur capacité d’analyse, à effectuer la recherche de contacts et à partager des renseignements essentiels sur la santé publique. Ce montant est divisé comme suit : 3 milliards de dollars ont été versés directement aux provinces et aux territoires au printemps 2020 afin de couvrir le coût du dépistage et d’effectuer plus de recherche des contacts, conformément aux engagements individuels pris par les premiers ministres de chaque compétence; 1,28 milliard de dollars pour des initiatives fédérales (y compris l’achat de composants et de consommables pour les tests pour les provinces et les territoires, le soutien de pointe pour le dépistage et la recherche de contacts, l’amélioration de la collecte de données pour les cas de COVID-19, y compris sur la race et l’indigénéité) et afin d’aider à compenser les dépenses imprévues des provinces et des territoires. 30 millions de dollars a été alloués en 2020-2021 pour soutenir les besoins accrus des provinces et territoires dans leurs efforts recherches de contacts. En vertu du protocole d’entente avec Santé Canada, Statistique Canada offre son expertise en soutien à 8 provinces et 1 territoire dans leurs efforts de recherches de contacts. Ils ont actuellement en discussion ou sont sur le point de conclure une entente avec les 2 autres provinces et 2 autres territoires dans le but d’offrir un soutien rapide en cas de besoin.

Les intervieweurs de Statistique Canada ont des compétences spécialisées et ont la capacité de mener des appels bilingues en plus de maîtriser plus de 35 langues. Statistiques Canada a présentement la capacité du conduire 17,020 appels par jour.

De plus, des 1,28 milliard de dollars fédéraux de l’Accord sur la relance sécuritaire, 194 millions de dollars ont été mis de côté pour aider les provinces et les territoires à régler leurs problèmes particuliers de gestion des données en santé publique, comme la réduction des lacunes dans les données relatives à la COVID-19, la modernisation des systèmes d’information sur la santé et l’adoption de données et de normes techniques plus communes pour rationaliser la collecte, l’utilisation et le partage des données. Ce financement sera alloué par l’entremise d’un programme de contribution en réponse aux demandes de propositions provinciales et territoriales. Santé Canada et l’Agence de la santé publique du Canada ont déployé deux applications ayant des objectifs différents :

Alerte COVID est une application numérique nationale de recherche des contacts qui émet des notifications d’exposition tout en assurant la protection de la vie privée. Il sert d’outil pour appuyer la mobilisation des Canadiens et aider à briser les chaînes de transmission sans recueillir des données personnelles ou de géolocalisation. Plus précisément, il soutient la recherche des contacts en aidant à réduire le temps entre un résultat positif et la notification des indications exposées; et informe les personnes exposées sur les mesures à prendre, comme l’autosurveillance ou le dépistage et l’isolement. À ce jour, neuf provinces et territoires utilisent Alerte COVID pour émettre des notifications en complément des efforts de recherche de contacts. Il y a plus de 6,3 millions de téléchargements de l’application.

L’application et le site Web ArriveCan, lancé en avril 2020, appuient le partage numérique de l’information obligatoire en santé publique exigée de tous les voyageurs qui arrivent au Canada, avec les partenaires provinciaux et territoriaux appropriés. La présentation de l’information de santé publique requise par le biais d’ArriveCAN est devenue obligatoire aux points d’entrée aériens en novembre 2020 et aux frontières terrestres en février 2021. Cette information facilite la planification de la quarantaine, la réduction des foules aux points d’entrée et les mesures de conformité et d’application de la loi.

ITEM 9: Bio Manufacturing Standards

Senator Deacon: The other question I have is that we have been told that — again it’s become politicized — with our capacity to design and implement vaccines — and some of the responsibility that lies on multiple levels of government — the response has come out consistently in Canada that we have not had facilities that were up to good manufacturing practices. I would ask if you can tell this committee, in writing, what good manufacturing practices entail, and why it takes so long to get them up to code? That answer could be in writing.

… When we’re trying to build capacity in this country for vaccines, what are these good manufacturing practices that are slowing us down?

Mr. Krumins: We can provide a quick explanation. My colleague Ms. Levesque can provide a quick explanation, if that’s deemed appropriate, but it is for Health Canada to answer.

Senator Marty Deacon (ISG, Ontario)

Official: Martin Krumins (PHAC, CFO)

RESPONSE:

The following link provides Health Canada’s Good Manufacturing Practices and COVID-19: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/compliance- enforcement/good-manufacturing-practices.html

RÉSPONSE:

Le lien suivant fournit les bonnes pratiques de fabrication pendant la pandémie de COVID-19 de Santé Canada. https://www.canada.ca/fr/sante-canada/services/medicaments-produits-sante/conformite- application-loi/bonnes-pratiques-fabrication.html