OTTAWA --
What's going to it take for the federal authorities to elevate COVID-19 vaccine mandates? Well being Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says it is sophisticated.
Conservative and NDP members of the Home of Commons well being committee hammered the minister with questions on a timeline, a benchmark, or a set of circumstances that may set off an finish to vaccine necessities for travellers and federal workers.
"(Canadians) wish to know what it's going to take for the mandates to finish," mentioned Conservative critic Michael Barrett advised the committee Monday.
Duclos had no single reply, as a substitute giving an extended checklist of indicators the federal authorities is watching.
The choice, he mentioned, shall be based mostly on all the things from the vaccination fee, hospital capability, and home and worldwide epidemiology to the impression of long-COVID, the financial system, and different social impacts.
Whereas mandates are reviewed on a weekly foundation, he mentioned it might be "irresponsible" to reply whether or not there's a particular plan to finish federal public well being mandates.
"To be accountable implies that you should observe the proof, the science and the precautionary precept and modify or analyze insurance policies as issues evolve," he mentioned.
Opposition events have more and more referred to as for extra transparency about how the federal authorities makes public well being selections underneath its jurisdiction.
"I discover that fairly surprising, that there is not a solution to be given, that it is a lot too advanced for the well being committee and for Canadians to know," Conservative MP Stephen Ellis mentioned to the minister at committee.
When requested what particular metrics might be used to determine when it is secure sufficient to name down federal mandates, Duclos supplied a listing of various numbers as a substitute.
He mentioned there have been in all probability about 20,000 new instances of COVID-19, and a ten to 30 per cent fee of contaminated individuals creating long-COVID.
He additionally advised the committee $23,000 is the common value to deal with a affected person with COVID-19 within the hospital, that lower than 60 per cent of eligible Canadians have obtained a booster vaccine, and that 59 individuals died from the virus in Canada on Sunday.
"It provides you an instance of the kind of numbers, individuals and details that we have to take into account," he mentioned.
The COVID-19 scenario is "unstable," chief public well being officer Dr. Theresa Tam advised the committee.
Internationally, there was an uptick in COVID-19 instances largely pushed by a sub-mutation of the Omicron variant referred to as BA.2.
Whereas she doesn't finally make selections about federal mandates, Tam instructed the federal government is ready to see whether or not there's a resurgence in coming weeks and the way provincial well being methods are in a position to deal with it.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 21, 2022.
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