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Canada lost its Covid vaccine under the FIPPA pushed through by PM Harper.
Political journalists: you want a scandal?
Here’s your scandal. https://canadians.org/fipa-info
Political journalists: you want a scandal?
Here’s your scandal. https://canadians.org/fipa-info
IMO this isn't the biggest Canadian vaccine fail. 10 years ago a company called Bioniche produced an animal vaccine against E coli o157 h7. That's the foodborne bug that causes hemolytic uremic syndrome. It worked really well.
Here's some true, cutting edge Canadian innovation. Its use in cattle herds would literally have saved our economy hundreds of millions of dollars a year on food recalls, outbreak investigations, human illness (incl end-stage kidney disease necessitating dialysis/transplant)
So we're using it, right?
Nuh uh. And the company is no longer manufacturing the vaccine. Why?
Nuh uh. And the company is no longer manufacturing the vaccine. Why?
Well, you see, hemolytic uremic syndrome and VTEC infection are HUMAN diseases (where vaccines are governed by health canada, naci and provincial PH organizations). But this is an agriculture canada/CFIA/chief veterinary officer issue, because you'd be vaccinating ANIMALS
The company went to NACI but of course NACI won't evaluate an animal vaccine.
They went to CFIA/CVO, but of course they don't mandate vaccines unless the pathogen in question causes illness in animals.
So.
They went to CFIA/CVO, but of course they don't mandate vaccines unless the pathogen in question causes illness in animals.
So.
There was an attempt to get the beef and dairy industries on board with the vaccine, effectively paying out of pocket. And at a few dollars a dose, vaccinating thousands of animals would have been a huge ask, and a selfless act.
What's astounding to me is that the dairy farmers WERE ACTUALLY CONSIDERING THIS (!) before the company decided not to proceed with the vaccine.
So: real Canadian innovation, huge potential impact on human health, but the siloed nature of reg/eval in public health killed it.
So: real Canadian innovation, huge potential impact on human health, but the siloed nature of reg/eval in public health killed it.
One Health; it's the idea that humans and animals and the environment we share need to be viewed as an inseparably interlinked whole for health to advance.
This isn't some feel-good Kumbaya stuff...are human and animal health interlinked? I refer you to our current zoonotic pandemic caused by a bat coronavirus.
Or the ZOONOTIC (animal to human) diseases on the WHO vaccine priority list--crimean congo, rift valley, nipah, ebola...
Or the ZOONOTIC (animal to human) diseases on the WHO vaccine priority list--crimean congo, rift valley, nipah, ebola...
Zoonoses one and all. @MeaganCFitz + @Alison_Galvani did seminal work showing that animal vaccination against rabies is a cost-saving, life saving HUMAN health intervention ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4084874/)
If you want to know about pathogenic avian flu (another zoonosis) crossover into human pops, ask @ishaberry2 about her work in live poultry markets in Bangladesh.
The list goes on. It's a small planet and we share it with lots of other creatures, and a fragile environment.
The list goes on. It's a small planet and we share it with lots of other creatures, and a fragile environment.
If we come through this effing pandemic and don't start thinking strategically about how we fit our economies into the constraints of environmental health, rather than the other way around, we will have learned jack-squat.
And don't get me started on climate change.
And don't get me started on climate change.
