Alberta COVID-19 Pandemic Data Review Task Force
The Alberta COVID-19 Pandemic Data Review Task Force is a Canadian provincial task force under the Government of Alberta.
History
On November 14, 2022, Premier Danielle Smith called for the establishment of a task force under the Health Quality Council of Alberta to review the data associated with Alberta's response to the declared COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Gary Davidson, former chief of emergency medicine at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, was appointed to lead the task force in 2023.[2]
The task force's final report was published on January 24, 2025.[3] Its contents were "based on current information as of April 2024."[4] Notably, the report called for "halting the use of COVID-19 vaccines without full disclosure of their potential risks, ending their use in healthy children and teenagers, conducting further research into their effectiveness, establishing support for vaccine-injured individuals, and providing an opt-out mechanism from federal public health policy."[5][6]
Members
Members of the task force are identified in its final report.[7]
| Name | Role | Affiliation(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Gary Davidson | Author, Review Lead, Chair | Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, University of Alberta |
| Blaine Achen | Author | University of Alberta, Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute |
| David Vickers | Author | Centre for Health Informatics, Alberta Health Services (AHS) |
| Justin Chin | Author | University of Alberta Department of Emergency Medicine |
| David Speicher | Author, Contributor, Report Editing | University of Guelph, Canadian Covid Care Alliance (CCCA) |
| Angela Wood | Author, Legal Counsel and Health Policy Support | Foisy Law Offices |
| Byram Bridle | Contributor, Chapter Draft and Review | University of Guelph Department of Pathobiology, Canadian Covid Care Alliance (CCCA) |
| Jay Bhattacharya | Contributor | Stanford University, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging (CDEHA) |
| Kevin Bardosh | Contributor | Collateral Global, University of Washington School of Public Health, Edinburgh Medical School, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
| John Conly | Contributor | University of Calgary Department of Medicine, AHS COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group, Canadian Infectious Disease Society (CIDS), Canadian Committee on Antibiotic Resistance, Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee (CEDAC), Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, Expert Advisory Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (EAGAR), WHO Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance |
| Frank Byl | Contributor, IT Support | PowerConcepts |
| Mark Bell | Contributor, Report Writing and Project Skill Use and Alignment Focus | Kennedy Power |
| Natasha Gonek | Contributor | - |
Publications
- January 24, 2025: "Alberta's COVID-19 pandemic response - Final Report"
Davidson, G., Achen, B., Vickers, D., Chin, J., Speicher, D., Wood, A., Bridle, B., Bhattacharya, J., Bardosh, K., Conly, J., Byl, F., Bell, M., & Gonek, N. (2025). Alberta’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Alberta COVID-19 Pandemic Data Review Task Force: Final Report (p. 1). Government of Alberta. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/88bbf80e-f8c8-4355-b751-c2086e204b34/resource/33d1d7d5-2596-4e57-a1ad-d93c10920069/download/hlth-albertas-covid-19-pandemic-response-2025-01.pdf ↩︎
Johnson, L. (2024, April 23). “Contrarian” doctor a good choice to lead COVID-19 data review, Alberta premier says. CBC News; The Canadian Press. https://web.archive.org/web/20240424042839/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/gary-davidson-leads-alberta-covid-review-health-data-1.7182891 ↩︎
Alberta’s COVID-19 pandemic response : Alberta COVID-19 Pandemic Data Review Task Force : final report. (2025, January 24). Government of Alberta. https://open.alberta.ca/publications/albertas-covid-19-pandemic-response/resource/33d1d7d5-2596-4e57-a1ad-d93c10920069 ↩︎
Davidson, G., Achen, B., Vickers, D., Chin, J., Speicher, D., Wood, A., Bridle, B., Bhattacharya, J., Bardosh, K., Conly, J., Byl, F., Bell, M., & Gonek, N. (2025). Alberta’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Alberta COVID-19 Pandemic Data Review Task Force: Final Report (p. 235). Government of Alberta. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/88bbf80e-f8c8-4355-b751-c2086e204b34/resource/33d1d7d5-2596-4e57-a1ad-d93c10920069/download/hlth-albertas-covid-19-pandemic-response-2025-01.pdf ↩︎
Davidson, G., Achen, B., Vickers, D., Chin, J., Speicher, D., Wood, A., Bridle, B., Bhattacharya, J., Bardosh, K., Conly, J., Byl, F., Bell, M., & Gonek, N. (2025). Alberta’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Alberta COVID-19 Pandemic Data Review Task Force: Final Report (p. 175). Government of Alberta. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/88bbf80e-f8c8-4355-b751-c2086e204b34/resource/33d1d7d5-2596-4e57-a1ad-d93c10920069/download/hlth-albertas-covid-19-pandemic-response-2025-01.pdf ↩︎
Smith, A., & Tait, C. (2025, January 25). Alberta task force recommends halt of COVID-19 vaccines in new report. The Globe and Mail. http://archive.vn/2025.01.25-023816/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-releases-secret-report-into-the-provinces-covid-response/ ↩︎
Davidson, G., Achen, B., Vickers, D., Chin, J., Speicher, D., Wood, A., Bridle, B., Bhattacharya, J., Bardosh, K., Conly, J., Byl, F., Bell, M., & Gonek, N. (2025). Alberta’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Alberta COVID-19 Pandemic Data Review Task Force: Final Report (pp. iii–vi). Government of Alberta. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/88bbf80e-f8c8-4355-b751-c2086e204b34/resource/33d1d7d5-2596-4e57-a1ad-d93c10920069/download/hlth-albertas-covid-19-pandemic-response-2025-01.pdf ↩︎