Ottawa, ON – The Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner, Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, and Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative Shadow Minister for Public Services and Procurement, issued a statement following the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s new recommendation that Canadians under 55 should not receive the AstraZeneca vaccine:
“For months, countries around the world have raised concerns about both the safety and efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This is why Conservatives have been calling for clarity from the government regarding their recommendations surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Today, we’ve learned that NACI has recommended that Canadians under 55 should not receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. Yet Canadian’s are receiving mixed messages from Health Canada on this. This conflicting advice is highly concerning, given the fact that thousands of Canadians in this age group have already received the vaccine.
“Today we are calling upon Prime Minister Trudeau to immediately do the following:
- Clearly communicate whether or not Health Canada is advising a pause on the use of the vaccine and communicate the same to the provinces. Health Canada is the agency responsible for providing approvals on vaccine safety, and provinces shouldn’t be left without critical data.
- If Health Canada’s advice is different from NACI, explain why there is a discrepancy.
“To ensure uptake of the vaccine by Canadians, clarity and data from the federal government on vaccine safety is critical. We have called for an emergency meeting of the Health Committee to determine why these flip flops are occurring, and again, call upon the Prime Minister to deliver clarity on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as soon as possible.”
-30-
For more information:
Office of the Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner, P.C., M.P.
Michelle.Rempel.A1@parl.gc.ca
613-219-3452
Office of Pierre Paul-Hus, M.P.
Joel.Bernard.319@parl.gc.ca
613-222-5613
