National vaccine service a good idea

Re: Policy specialists calling for Canadian immunization service, July 19.

Kudos to University of Ottawa professor Dr. Kumanan Wilson; Queen's University's Dr. Jane Philpott, former federal health minister; and Canadian Blood Services CEO Dr. Graham Sher for advocating the establishment of a national immunization service to co-ordinate vaccine procurement, distribution and research.

Under their proposal, an independent, not-for-profit corporation funded by participating jurisdictions, and possibly the federal government, would be responsible for managing the country's immunization services and supply chain, collecting consistent data and buying vaccines in bulk.

If such an independent body should be modelled on Canadian Blood Services, one hopes it would be better constituted and have learned from the pitfalls of CBS.

If a country like Cuba with all the limitations on its resources can produce its Abdala COVID vaccine with high efficacy with three doses, there is no reason Canada should not produce its own vaccines domestically.

The Bureau of Drug Research was set up under Health Canada about a decade after the Thalidomide crisis of 1961-62, but it was terminated at the end of July 1997, essentially for political reasons. The COVID pandemic has shown that the nation needs to have a national, independent, and not-for-profit health resource such as advocated by these experts.

George Neville (retired research scientist of Health Canada's former Bureau of Drug Research), Ottawa