Skip to main content

Profiles

COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force

The COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force (VTF) was a Canadian public-private advisory board convened by the National Research Council Canada (NRC) and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED).

History

Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced the membership of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force on August 5, 2020. Bains also announced the membership of the COVID-19 Therapeutics Task Force.[1]

Timeline of considerations

The Task Force considered a variety of proposals for COVID-19 vaccines submitted by their developers throughout 2020 through to 2023.[2]

  • June 22, 2020: Biodextris, Providence Therapeutics, Entos Pharmaceuticals, Glycovax Pharma, Precision NanoSystems, Symvivo, IMV, Medicago
  • June 25, 2020: AstraZeneca, Pfizer
  • June 26, 2020: VBI Vaccines, Treadwell Therapeutics/TCRyption
  • June 29, 2020: AstraZeneca, Pfizer
  • July 3, 2020: Moderna
  • July 16, 2020: Treadwell Therapeutics/TCRyption (followup)
  • July 23, 2020: Novavax
  • July 28, 2020: Janssen
  • August 6, 2020: Pfizer
  • September 3, 2020: Sanofi/GlaxoSmithKline
  • December 10, 2020: Novavax
  • March 9, 2021: Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization – International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac)
  • March 18, 2021: BIOVECTRA
  • June 23, 2021: Jubilant HollisterStier
  • July 26, 2021: Moderna
  • June 23-34, 2022: Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API)

Participants

The list of Task Force participants is provided in the table below.[3][4][5]

Name Position Affiliation(s)
Joanne Langley Co-chair IWK Health Centre, Dalhousie University
Mark Lievonen Co-chair JML Advisory Services, Sanofi Pasteur
Alan Bernstein Member Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)
Robert Brunham Member British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), UBCCDC Vaccine Research Laboratory, University of British Columbia (UBC)
Michel de Wilde Member MDWConsultant, Sanofi Pasteur
Bartha Knoppers Member Centre of Genomics and Policy (CGP), McGill University
Gary Kobinger Member Infectious Disease Research Centre, Laval University
Christopher Procyshyn Member Vanrx Pharmasystems
Benjamin Rovinski Member Lumira Ventures
Lorne Tyrrell Member Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology, University of Alberta
Sylvia van den Hurk Member University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization – International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac)
André Veillette Member University of Montreal, Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM)
Mona Nemer Ex-officio member Office of the Chief Science Advisor
Tina Namiesniowski Ex-officio member Public Health Agency of Canada
Simon Kennedy Ex-officio member Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Stephen Lucas Ex-officio member Health Canada
Iain Stewart Ex-officio member (former) Public Health Agency of Canada
Harpreet Kochar Ex-officio member Public Health Agency of Canada
Roger Scott-Douglas Secretary National Research Council Canada

Conflicts of interest

For each proposal, members of the task force identified their potential conflicts of interest.

Subsidiaries


  1. Jagric, A., Roy, C., Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, & Public Services and Procurement Canada. (2020, August 5). Government of Canada announces major steps in treating and preventing COVID-19 through vaccines and therapies. Government of Canada. http://archive.today/2022.12.16-235932/https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2020/08/government-of-canada-announces-major-steps-in-treating-and-preventing-covid-19-through-vaccines-and-therapies.html ↩︎

  2. COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force Registry of Interests. (2023, March 27). Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. http://archive.today/2023.07.09-180656/https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/biomanufacturing/en/covid-19-vaccine-task-force/covid-19-vaccine-task-force-registry-interests ↩︎

  3. National Research Council Canada. (2020, August 5). COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. Government of Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20200808224638/https://nrc.canada.ca/en/corporate/covid-19-vaccine-task-force ↩︎

  4. National Research Council Canada. (2020, September 22). COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. Government of Canada. http://archive.today/2020.12.01-031831/https://nrc.canada.ca/en/corporate/covid-19-vaccine-task-force ↩︎

  5. National Research Council Canada. (2020, September 22). COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. Government of Canada. http://archive.today/2022.02.07-080206/https://nrc.canada.ca/en/corporate/covid-19-vaccine-task-force ↩︎