Big pHARMa Funds Canada’s Vaccine Regulators with the Prerequisite that Covid and Non-Covid Research Results Improve Vaccine Acceptance and Uptake
Dr. Theresa Tam, who is the top health expert in Canada, spoke at a meeting of the World Health Assembly
about how to make people trust vaccines more. Credit: U.S. Mission to International Organizations
in Geneva, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Connecting the dots…
Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam has served as an expert on a number of World Health Organization (WHO) committees and serves as an executive board member of The International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI). Her work through the years as a champion for public health has been influential and instrumental in Canada, as well as internationally.
CPHO Dr. Theresa Tam's biography
IANPHI partners with:
1.) The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided a one-year planning grant to establish IANPHI and in 2006 awarded a USD $20 million, five-year implementation grant to launch and conduct project activities. In late 2011, the foundation continued its support with a USD $6 million grant to further develop a model for strengthening national public health institutes globally.
2.) The Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation funded the initial meeting of directors of national public health institutes in 2002 that led to the establishment of IANPHI.
3.) The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded the IANPHI U.S. Office at Emory Global Health Institute a five-year cooperative agreement in the amount of USD $17 million in 2015. Funds were used to support in projects and programs aimed at building and strengthening NPHIs. A second cooperative agreement was initiated in 2019 and has provided USD $7.3 million for the first two years with subsequent years amounts to be determined. In 2021, IANPHI and the CDC celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the partnership.
4.) World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO), a founding partner of IANPHI, provides ongoing technical expertise and support to the organization. WHO has been engaged with IANPHI since 2005 to establish a set of collaborative partnership activities directed towards the mutual goal of strengthening public health capacity, both nationally and globally. To date, 18 IANPHI members also function as WHO collaborating centers, further reinforcing the relationship between WHO and IANPHI. On October 16, 2022, IANPHI and WHO signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen public health functions and health emergency preparedness.
Dr. Tam is also the federal co-chair of the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network Council:
The Pan-Canadian Public Health Network is the formal public health governance for federal, provincial and territorial governments working together to strengthen and enhance public health across Canada.
Canada’s Vaccination Coverage Goals and Vaccine Preventable Disease Reduction Targets by 2025
As part of the National Immunization Strategy objectives for 2016-2021, Canada’s vaccination coverage goals and vaccine preventable disease reduction targets were set based on international standards and best practices. The goals and targets are consistent with Canada’s commitment to the WHO’s disease elimination targets and Global Vaccine Action Plan, while reflecting the Canadian context.
Source: vaccine-targets-2025
Further Pharma Influence and Funding
The Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN) is funded by Big Pharma: GSK, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur, VBI Vaccines, and partners with PHAC. CIRN is a national network of key vaccine researchers who develop and test methodologies related to the evaluation of vaccines as they pertain to safety, immunogenicity and effectiveness, and who conduct implementation research and evaluation.
In July 2021, a directed CIRN extension grant application was submitted to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (Canada’s federal funding agency for health research), and the network was notified that it was fully funded* for $6,000,000 over 24 months, 2022-2024.
CIRN’s areas of research and objectives include:
Non-COVID-19 Related Research
- Interventions that improve vaccine acceptance and uptake
COVID-19 Related Research
- Research on interventions that can help to improve COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, hesitancy and uptake including consideration of priority research projects to inform current and future policy
*The CIRN Extension Grant RFA specifically mandated that $2,000,000 was to be allocated to projects addressing interventions that improve vaccine acceptance and uptake.
Source: CIHR and CIHR proposals
So with all of this information, whose interest do you believe our health officers put first? Canadians or the pharma industry?
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