The WHO: Canada and the Way Ahead

November 17, 2020

The Empire Club of Canada Presents

The WHO: Canada and the Way Ahead

Chairman: Antoinette Tummillo, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada

Distinguished Guest Speakers
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization
Dr. Peter Singer, Assistant Director General of the World Health Organization
Dr. Kate O'Brien, Director of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals, WHO

Introduction
It is a great honour for me to be here at the Empire Club of Canada today, which is arguably the most famous and historically relevant speaker’s podium to have ever existed in Canada. It has offered its podium to such international luminaries as Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Audrey Hepburn, the Dalai Lama, Indira Gandhi, and closer to home, from Pierre Trudeau to Justin Trudeau; literally generations of our great nation's leaders, alongside with those of the world's top international diplomats, heads of state, and business and thought leaders.

It is a real honour and distinct privilege to be invited to speak to the Empire Club of Canada, which has been welcoming international diplomats, leaders in business, and in science, and in politics. When they stand at that podium, they speak not only to the entire country, but they can speak to the entire world.

Welcome Address by Antoinette Tummillo, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Good afternoon, fellow directors, past presidents, members, and guests. Welcome to the 117th season of the Empire Club of Canada. My name is Antoinette Tummillo. I'm the president of the Empire Club of Canada, and thrilled to be your host today for our virtual event, featuring Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization.

I want to take a brief moment to recognize our sponsors, who generously support the Empire Club and make these events possible. Our Lead Event Sponsor today is Ryerson University. Ryerson University School of Occupational and Public Health, Faculty of Community Services has created a video on one of the most important questions they have long been focused on: how we build a society so that people, nature, and economies can all thrive. They have a unique understanding of what's at stake, and a growing role in finding solutions. As the video will show, the university is increasingly focusing on research that will shape the way we live, from sustainable design to urban health and well-being, from governance and social justice to economic development, migration, and integration. Now for the video:

[VIDEO:]
To us, innovation means creating a future in which we'll harness the sun, the rain, and the earth to create sustainable design. We'll provide a path to lifelong wellness, personalized health solutions, and basic nutrition to build vibrant communities. We'll ensure access to justice for all, empower citizens to redefine our democracies, and demand political representation that reflects our diversity. We'll create sustainable housing, jobs that keep pace with the times, and an economy that's good for the environment. We'll weave technology into the clothes we wear and the stories we tell as we bring the virtual world to life. And we'll create communities that always welcome newcomers, celebrate their role in our shared success, and serve as examples of how to live as one. We are Ryerson.
[END OF VIDEO]

Antoinette Tummillo
I would also like to acknowledge our Supporting Sponsors: The Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research at York University, and the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario, also known as WeRPN. Our season sponsors are the Canadian Bankers Association and Waste Connections Canada. Thanks also to our event partner, BBC, and livemeeting.ca for webcasting today's event.

Now, I have a few logistical items to share. If you're finding your internet feed is slow, please see below and click the "Switch Streams" button. Don't hesitate to press the "Request for Help "button if you're experiencing technical difficulties; our team will be happy to assist you.

It is now my pleasure to call this virtual meeting to order. It is my profound pleasure to welcome to the Empire Club, for the very first time, the Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and to do so at this especially significant moment in his life. A few weeks ago, he became a grandfather. Of that great event, he wrote, "As I looked into my granddaughter Mia's face the first time and held her tiny hand, I experienced the same wonder, joy, hope, pride, and love every parent and grandparent feels. But my joy was tinged with worry about the kind of world she will grow up in. Although she knows nothing about it, the COVID-19 pandemic will shape that world; the question is how." The answer depends on all of us, on our support for the WHO, and for the innovative leadership of Dr. Tedros, the right person to guide it at this historic and hectic time.

Dr. Tedros was elected as WHO Director General for a five-year term by WHO member states at the 70th World Health Assembly in May 2017. He is the first WHO Director General to have been elected from multiple candidates, and the first from the African Region of the WHO.

Immediately after taking office on July 1, 2017, Dr. Tedros outlined five key priorities. Health emergencies [indiscernible] was the first, [indiscernible] was the second, the others were the health impacts of climate and environmental change, [indiscernible]. He was ahead of this coast-to-coast-to-coast, and he was ahead of his time in common cause with Canada long before. As Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2016, he led negotiations for the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, in which 193 countries committed to financing the sustainable development goals. He also had an immense international impact as Chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and as the Co-Chair of the Board of Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, the subject of the central accomplishment of the Group of Seven Summit that Canada hosted in 2010.

Dr. Tedros offers his apologies, but immediately following his remarks, he has to leave to attend to other obligations at WHO. Dr. Tedros' special advisor, Dr. Peter Singer, will lead the discussion period, along with Dr. Kate O'Brien, the Director of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals. He has left us in great hands for the question period. So, Dr. Tedros, a very warm welcome to the Empire Club. Thank you for being with us today and taking the time to be here. Our podium is now yours.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization
Thank you. Thank you so much, Antoinette. Grazie mille for that very kind introduction. Antoinette Tummillo, President of the Empire Club of Canada, and I see my good friend John Kirton also. Distinguished guests, dear colleagues, and friends, good afternoon. I would like to thank the Empire Club for the opportunity of sharing a few reflections with you today. My Canadian colleague, Peter Singer, has told me about the long tradition and enormous influence of the Empire Club, so it's an honour to be invited. From the short video I viewed, how beautiful it is to come in person, so colourful, and I hope to join you once this pandemic is behind us, and have another opportunity to speak at the Empire Club of Canada.

I'm delighted to hear that the Empire Club will give its annual Nation Builder of the Year award next month to the country's health and other frontline workers. Recently, member states at the World Health Assembly designated 2021 as the International Year of Healthcare and Care Workers, recognizing the dedication and sacrifice of the millions of health and care workers at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks, also, to my friend John Kirton. I also want to greet all those who have joined us online. On behalf of WHO, I would like to thank Prime Minister Trudeau, his cabinet, your provincial premiers, local mayors, and the millions of people across your country for the leadership Canada has displayed during this pandemic. Things have been far from easy, and we know that more challenges lie ahead. But Canada has treated this pandemic seriously, and adopted an approach that many other countries regard as an example.

I also want to note the long, productive history shared by Canada and WHO. Indeed, WHO's first Director General was Canadian, Dr. Brock Chisholm. As one of the authors of WHO's constitution, his legacy endures. We have Dr. Chisholm to thank for the definition of health in the WHO constitution: that health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Dr. Chisholm was a psychiatrist, and he fought hard to ensure that mental health was included in that definition. Canada has continued to lead in multiple areas of public health, including gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, Polio, and more. This pandemic has reminded us of the importance of multilateralism, something that Canadians have always embraced. In the aftermath of the Second World War, countries came together to form the United Nations, recognizing that international cooperation is the only alternative to international conflict.

The COVID-19 pandemic has tested and strained the multilateral system, and shown why it's more relevant and necessary than ever. In my address to the World Health Assembly last week, I called for a renewed multilateralism with a focus on solidarity, equity, and results. Health inequality, climate, and conflict cannot be tackled in silos. It's a time to forge a new era of cooperation to fight the deep-seated inequalities that are at the root of so many of the world's problems. Canada is answering that call. WHO sincerely thanks Canada for your leadership. Your nation's consistent recognition that we are in this together as one humanity is widely appreciated, and widely acknowledged.

Let me turn to where we are in our international efforts to combat COVID-19. More than 54 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 1.3 million deaths have now been reported to WHO. Last week alone, almost 4 million cases and 60,000 deaths were reported, the most in a single week so far. Unfortunately, Canada has not been spared. Like much of Europe and the Americas in recent weeks, you have seen a steep increase in cases. Much progress has been made, but great challenges still confront us. We might be tired of COVID-19, but it's not tired of us. The virus has no ideology or beliefs; its only goal is to spread.

The good news is that we know what works. It starts with the fundamentals of public health, with a focus on finding, testing, isolating, and caring for those infected, and tracing and quarantining their contacts. And individuals and communities must play their part in keeping themselves and others safe, by physical distancing, avoiding crowds, ensuring ventilation, wearing masks, and cleaning hands.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, WHO has been providing the world with the evidence-based tools it needs to prevent, detect, and respond to COVID-19. At the same time, we knew that new tools would be needed to bring the pandemic under control—that's the end game. That's why WHO proposed the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, to develop vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics fast, and allocate them fairly, as global public goods. But the ACT Accelerator will be no more than a noble gesture unless it's fully funded. We greatly appreciate Canada's generous support of 440 million Canadian dollars for the ACT Accelerator. The current financing gap for the ACT Accelerator stands at 23.8 billion US dollars, and 4.3 billion dollars is needed urgently to maintain momentum.

We're now starting to see very promising results from clinical trials of vaccines. But there are still many challenges to overcome. Moving from trials to vaccinating the world's population will not happen easily or instantly. The successful global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines will be among the most daunting logistical and operational efforts since World War II. Production, procurement, supply, and distribution will require tremendous resourcing, coordination, and planning.

We must move, now, to identify and overcome hurdles such as vaccine verification, safety and monitoring of supply, and, very importantly, responding to the spread of disinformation that might be employed to discourage vaccination. It will require innovation, persistence, and solidarity. But it's also important to emphasize that a vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them. Once we have a safe and effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively, and the best way to do that is by vaccinating some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries.

In our interconnected world, if some people miss out on vaccines, the virus will continue to circulate, and the global recovery will be delayed. Initially, supply will be limited, so health workers, older people, and other at-risk populations will be prioritized. But that will still leave the virus with a lot of room to move. Surveillance will need to continue. Those infected will still need to be identified, tested, isolated, and cared for. Contacts will still need to be traced and quarantined, communities will still need to be engaged, and individuals will still need to be careful.

We still have a long road to travel, and although a vaccine is needed urgently to control the pandemic, it will not fix the vulnerabilities at its roots. There is no vaccine for poverty, hunger, inequality, or climate change. Every year, millions of people are plunged into extreme poverty, because the health services they need are not available, or they cannot afford them. That's why WHO's top priority is universal health coverage, built on the foundation of strong primary healthcare, with an emphasis on access and equity.

My personal hope is that we will see the world respond to the challenge of COVID-19 with a pronounced effort in the years ahead, to extend the reach of primary health care, which is the best defense against future crises, and every other sort of health challenge. Even as we continue to battle this pandemic, I'm feeling hopeful. Hopeful because we know more, hopeful because we're doing more, hopeful because we will do more, and hopeful because we are coming together to get it done.

In that spirit, I would like to close with a couple of modest asks. I would ask that in the difficult weeks to come, you follow the advice of local public health officials, even when it requires real sacrifice. I would ask that you recognize and offer practical support to those many healthcare workers upon whom we all rely. And finally, I would ask that you maintain your hope. We will defeat COVID-19 together through cooperation, compassion, and solidarity. Thank you so much. Merci beaucoup. Thank you, thank you so much, Madam President, again. Thank you.

Antoinette Tummillo
Can you hear me now?

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Yes.

Antoinette Tummillo
I am so sorry. We've had a storm here the last few days, and my internet connection is very shaky. Thank you very much, Dr. Tedros, for taking the time to be with us today, and for your advice and your diligence in pushing us forward to do the right things on a worldwide basis. You don't have an easy job, but we're rooting for you here in Canada. So, thank you.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Thank you. Thank you so much, Antoinette. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. This is a great honour for me, and I hope to join you in person in your future sessions. Thank you.

Antoinette Tummillo
Thank you.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
I'm really honoured, very honoured. Thank you.

Antoinette Tummillo
Thank you. Can you hear me at this point? Okay, good, thank you. So, I want to welcome back Dr. Peter Singer to the Empire Club. Thank you, Peter, for joining us again. Dr. Singer is the Assistant Director General of the World Health Organization. He is the architect of WHO's strategy and its Triple Billion Targets: one billion more people benefiting from universal health coverage, one billion more people better protected from health emergencies, and one billion more people enjoying better health and well-being.

If there's anyone who can help the organization achieve these lofty goals, it is Dr. Singer. And I also want to welcome Dr. Kate O'Brien, who's the Director of the Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals Department at the World Health Organization. In this role, she's responsible for leading WHO's strategy and implementation to advance the vision of a world where everyone, everywhere, at every age, fully benefits from vaccines for good health and well-being. She's also the technical lead of the COVID Vaccine Pillar, a part of the Access to COVID Tools Accelerator. And the mission of COVAX is to deliver 2 billion doses of COVID vaccine by the end of 2021 to help end the acute phase of the pandemic.

So, before we get started with the questions from our audience—and this is an interactive event, so I encourage people to send in their questions—Peter and Kate, if you can please maybe give a little more colour on your background, and your involvement with WHO, and how you're helping through this whole pandemic.

Dr. Peter Singer, Assistant Director General of the World Health Organization
Well, thank you so much, Antoinette. Kate and I are both Canadians. And I was the founder of the Joint Centre for Bioethics and the CEO and co-founder of Grand Challenges Canada. And in 2017, I came to WHO with Dr. Tedros, inspired by him, and you just heard his inspiring remarks. And since that time, I've been here helping to transform WHO into a very results-focused organization. I'm his special advisor and support him in every way he needs advice and support. So, thank you, Antoinette. It's a pleasure to be back at the Empire Club, and it's a great pleasure to be here with Kate. Over to you, Kate.

Dr. Kate O'Brien, Director of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals, WHO
Thanks, Peter. So, thanks, Antoinette, also for that really generous introduction. As Antoinette said, I'm a Canadian. I'm also a pediatrician and infectious disease and vaccine specialist. I've spent my career developing vaccines, trying to evaluate them for their efficacy, and also really supporting countries, largely in Africa and South Asia, in developing policies about the best way to use vaccines and implement them. I've also worked with First Nations communities, mostly in the United States, who are some of the communities with the highest risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, ensuring that the vaccines we have are able to do what they need to do in those communities to reduce the inequities. I joined WHO at the beginning of 2019 to lead the vaccine department at WHO. Here we are in 2020 with a historic pandemic, for which we're all looking to vaccines to try to end this acute phase. So, thanks.

QUESTION & ANSWER

Antoinette Tummillo
Thank you. And you know, with that, I'll shoot right into the questions. Please let me know if the audio is not coming through well, because sometimes I'm getting feedback on my end. So, we're hearing lots of news about an effective vaccine being developed, which is all really encouraging news for stopping the pandemic. Pfizer [indiscernible] yesterday. But we're wondering, when will it be available? Should we wait patiently until they continue to test, and solve all the subsequent steps in the testing of the vaccines at this point?

Dr. Kate O'Brien
Maybe I can start off with that. As everybody knows, there have been two press releases this week and late last week that have announced the first results of phase three clinical trials. These results indicate whether a vaccine actually prevents disease. And so, these are incredible results that have come out in these press releases. We're extremely hopeful about these vaccines and other vaccines that are in the pipeline going forward. But having these results is really the first step. They need to be reviewed by regulatory authorities who will go through these results in detail, including the safety results—and we'll assume they will get approved and authorized by regulators—even when that happens, what we're really looking for is the delivery of vaccines. Vaccines that sit on a shelf, or in a freezer, or in a refrigerator are not vaccines that save lives. It's vaccination that saves lives. And manufacturers have been working at risk to scale up the number of doses that will be available. So, we are looking at having hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines available in the first year, and certainly many more in the second year of their availability. But I'm sure we'll be talking more about what to do with those doses and the best way—not just the right way but also the smart way—to deploy those vaccines so that they can, in fact, deliver the greatest impact possible, even though, in the early phase, we'll be in significant supply constraint. Peter, I wonder if there's anything you want to add to that ?

Dr. Peter Singer
Yeah, thank you, Kate. I fully agree with what Kate said. And I'd just like to maybe emphasize a couple of things. I'd like to emphasize one of the key messages Dr. Tedros said in his speech, which was that we're now facing what may be the most significant logistical effort and initiative in a very long time, maybe since the Second World War. That's a very, very significant logistical challenge we're moving into. Also, as Kate mentioned, what's really key here is equitable access. It's much better to distribute the vaccine to some people in all countries than to all people in some countries. In fact, there's modelling that shows that saves lives.

But the other thing I wanted to do very briefly is just say that, as the Prime Minister said, this is the light at the end of the tunnel. Right now, we want to fully acknowledge and recognize that we're in the tunnel and things seem very challenging, I'm sure, for Canadians at the moment, as their lives and livelihoods are threatened. And on behalf of the World Health Organization, I just wanted to extend our condolences to the families of those who've lost their lives, and also our respect and appreciation to health workers—and indeed, all essential workers. They constitute, health workers constitute maybe 3 percent of the global population, and maybe 14 percent or so of the COVID cases. They are taking on personal risk to benefit their communities, and they deserve all our respect and appreciation, which is why, Antoinette, it's terrific that the Empire Club has decided to devote your Nation Builder of the Year Award to health care and other essential workers. So, I just want to add that, Antoinette, and back to you.

Antoinette Tummillo
Thank you, Peter. You know, we're getting a lot of questions around when the vaccine is going to be available, who's going to get it first, how, you know, when can we expect to get it in North America, is it going to be distributed equitably, and how WHO is helping to make sure that once a vaccine is available, it will be distributed in a fair way.

Dr. Peter Singer
I think Kate is probably one of the best people in the world to start off answering that question.

Dr. Kate O'Brien
Thanks, Peter. The question of—you know, these are all extremely important questions. And at WHO, we've been working ever since the pandemic to establish, first of all, policies that would really be grounded in evidence and not just opinion about what should be done first, and what should, what should happen next. And countries like Canada have very strong policy-making bodies guiding these decisions in Canada. So, I just want to emphasize a few things about who will get vaccines first. These decisions are made by each country. And it is the responsibility of every country to set those policies around population prioritization.

The most important groups, as Peter was just speaking about, are health workers. They are not only the workers who are at risk of exposure to COVID cases because of their, the work that they do, but they are also essential for maintaining health services for everything else we rely on them for—cancer care, care of children, care of adolescents, orthopedic care, heart disease care. We don't want to move from one crisis to another. So, the prioritization of health workers, which is inclusive of, also, social workers—it's not, it's not just a healthcare worker in a healthcare facility—workers in healthcare facilities, but all people who are caring for others, prioritizing those at high and very high risk of transmission of COVID.

Once that is prioritized, then we're really looking at reducing the most severe impact of COVID. The reason we're all in this situation is because of the severity of the disease—it's because of people who become severely ill, and especially for the deaths that have occurred, and just the grief that has caused so many families, and the loss of life because of this, because of this virus. If this was a pandemic but a mild illness, we wouldn't be instituting all the measures we are; it really has to do with severity. So, we focus on those most at risk of severe disease and death, largely groups in older ages, and those with underlying conditions. And then, of course, there are the essential workers. WHO has provided a sequence and categorization that WHO has provided after a full review and analysis of all available data around the world. And this provides an opportunity for any country to rely on those policy recommendations issued from WHO and the Director-General on how to prioritize.

The real question is, how do we equitably distribute these vaccines? And we have been calling for vaccine multilateralism, as opposed to vaccine nationalism. We really want that multilateral approach. Because getting these, there isn't enough supply that we have around the world in this first year to vaccinate all the populations in every country that need it. So, we have to do something that is both right and smart, scientifically. And as Peter said, immunizing some people in every country is a better approach, and saves more lives, than immunizing all the people in a small number of countries. So, we have developed a global facility called the COVAX Facility, which allows any country around the world to join. It aggregates supply and allocates that supply according to fair and equitable principles that WHO has developed in consultation with all the countries that are part of WHO.

So, those are the key building blocks for how we're going to get ourselves out of this pandemic. It really requires that multilateral approach, and cooperation among countries to put science first, put public health first, and to really prioritize those who are at most risk first, while the supply is growing and manufacturers are investing in more supply around the world to get those billions of doses we're going to need for everybody.

Dr. Peter Singer
I think the only thing I'll add, Antoinette, to Kate's answer—which, obviously ,I fully agree with—is the more general case about inequities. Kate talked about it in the context of vaccines. But one of the harsh lessons of COVID is that it preys on inequities. It exploits the cracks, it shines a harsh spotlight on the pre-existing inequities, social inequities, and so on. And that's one of the real lessons. And so, in moving forward, and very much so in the response, it's very important to recognize that. And that's why Dr. Tedros emphasized so much the issue of equity, and that's also an area where Canada has been quite strong, with its focus on gender equality. But this virus preys on socioeconomic inequities, it preys on marginalized communities, it preys on racialized communities. And I think it's very, very important to recognize that in the context of the vaccine, but also more generally. And that's inequities among countries, and within countries.

Antoinette Tummillo
So, Peter, maybe this question is for you: Canada's gone out and done deals on five or ten times the amount of vaccines we actually need, you know, if you look at our population, here. Like, whyy are we doing that?

Dr. Peter Singer
Well, I think Kate might want to start off on that one. And then I'll....

Dr. Kate O'Brien
Over the past months, as there's this enormous pipeline of manufacturers, developers, scientists, public health institutes, that are all racing to develop a variety of vaccines, countries around the world have been asking themselves which ones of these vaccines are going to work. And of course, we don't know which ones are going to work until we actually have the results. As I mentioned before, last week was the first time that we have results from any of these candidates, to demonstrate whether the vaccine can protect against disease.

And so, over these months, some countries have been pursuing agreements with manufacturers for doses, under an assumption or condition that those vaccines might reach licensure. And so, Canada, like other countries, has been looking to have agreements with manufacturers that if all of those doses actually reach licensure, there, there would be more doses than there are people in the country.

I think the question is, really, more about what countries are doing that have these bilateral deals, what are they also doing around global access. And Canada is a member of the COVAX Facility, as are over 184 other economies. So, the COVAX Facility, the countries and the economies that are part of it, represent over 90 percent of the world's population. This is a strong testament to the understanding and confidence that countries have in the need for this multilateralism. And there's probably going to be a combination of approaches that countries take, with some doses coming through the COVAX Facility, some from bilateral arrangements that have been made. And for some countries that have made arrangements with a number of manufacturers. They may end up with more doses than they need, and donations may occur to the COVAX Facility of the excess doses, so that those can be deployed to other countries around the world that didn't have the benefit of making those arrangements with manufacturers

So, I think we're in the very early days now. We still don't know which of these vaccines are actually going to reach licensure. And we're really calling on countries like Canada and others, that have the benefit of those arrangements ,to, to continue to put the multilateralism as a priority, which Canada has been very strong in committing to, and has demonstrated that through the support to the COVAX Facility. So, the, the road ahead provides lots of opportunity for, for actually meeting the needs that both Canada has, and, and other countries around the world.

Dr. Peter Singer
Yeah. And Antoinette, just to build on Kate's response, I think it's important for people to realize that this is an unprecedented scientific effort. More than 200 vaccine candidates, about 50 in human trials, about 10 in late-stage trials ,10 months into a pandemic, completely unprecedented. Secondly, Canada is a member of the ACT Accelerator , it's joined the ACT Accelerator and the COVAX Facility. It's also one of the top funders of the ACT Accelerator in the COVAX Facility. So, I think we need to appreciate Canada's contributions to COVAX. It put, actually, half its funds into 15 million doses for Canadians—which is a type of insurance policy for which vaccines work—and half its funds into a lifeline for 92 low and lower-middle-income, low and lower-middle-income countries. And then, finally, I think this is an issue where Canadians, going forward, as Kate said, really will have a very strong voice to encourage the equitable global distribution of vaccines as a global good.

You know, Canadians are a very charitable people. And definitely, this is charity. But it's not just charity; it's also self-interest. Because the prosperity, the national security, and the health of any country in the world is only insured if COVID is addressed in every country in the world. Because none of us are safe until all of us are safe. And so, that's a thought I would leave your viewers with. And it's something where we hope that you're, that we hope that people in the audience will actually continue to press that case along with us, in Canada and around the world.

Dr. Kate O'Brien
Maybe I can just add a little bit. Peter, I think that's a great point that you added. And, and I think the example that we can see that's happening right now, both in Canada and in other countries, is that there are countries and there are parts of Canada—the Atlantic Bubble, for instance—that has really controlled COVID. But the, but the means to do that, means that there isn't free flow of people in and out of the, out of the, out of the Bubble—or, you know, if we use New Zealand as an example, another country. As long as every country, you know, continue—as long as there is COVID that is moving between countries or between regions, it doesn't actually solve the problem if you, if we just take care of ourselves. We, we are a global world. There is global travel, transport, business. And so, this idea that we're really not out of this until we have the protections in every country and, and that's really where we need to get to. And that's why we keep emphasizing it's not just the right thing to do, it's actually the smart thing to do. Because we can't get our freedom back, we can't get our flexibility back, until that is actually distributed across the whole of the world

Antoinette Tummillo
Yeah. You bring up a good point. You know, one of the questions is around how WHO and the Canadian government are working together to save lives, amidst the surging COVID-19 cases. I mean, people are getting tired of this lockdown. And you're seeing people just thinking, "Well, we'll just get through this; we're going to be okay." And, you know, we're struggling in some parts of Canada—and we won't even talk about the US. How do we get that across to people that, you know, we really all have to be in this together, as you're saying? Do you think we're getting through to people?

Dr. Peter Singer
Thank you. First of all, just to acknowledge that I think people are getting tired; this is really tough. And I should say that I know this firsthand; I had COVID, and I know the uncertainty that comes with it. Thankfully, I had a very mild case. So, I completely understand how people, how people feel. And it is very tough, at the moment. What I would say is it's extremely important to continue the public health measures. You know, there's a real variation of situations in countries around the world. And some countries have done extremely well—Vietnam, Thailand, Rwanda, New Zealand—and the core common ingredient is actually a strong adherence to the public health measures of, essentially, to use the Canadian metaphor, putting the virus in the penalty box: testing, isolating cases, tracing, and quarantining contacts. And, by the way, that's what's going to save lives until we have a vaccine that is getting into people's arms, while we have a vaccine, and after we have a vaccine. So, please, continue the public health measures—those and the ones that Dr. Tedros mentioned: masking, physical distancing, avoiding poorly ventilated indoor spaces, and, as a last resort when necessary, and many jurisdictions are there, unfortunately, movement restrictions, so-called lockdowns.

But then, finally, you know, what I would like to leave people with is a sense of hope. It's the sense of hope. We defeated smallpox; the world defeated smallpox together. That killed 300 million people in the last century. That's more than the number of deaths in all the wars combined in the last century. That was at the height of the Cold War, with the United States, the then-Soviet Union working together with all countries in the world, and with the World Health Organization playing a very central role in that, we defeated smallpox, and we will defeat COVID-19.

So, although things seem bleak at the moment, I want to leave people with a sense of hope. It's almost a Churchillian moment right now. And we're at the Empire Club, and Winston Churchill spoke here. But he gave a very famous speech in 1940, "We'll fight on the beaches, we'll fight here, we'll fight there, and we shall never surrender." And that's really, I think, the attitude that we need to take now. Because there is hope. We will defeat this. And the vaccine news is extremely encouraging—interim results, but very encouraging. So, we will get through this; we'll get through this together. Solidarity is vital. And the only way to get through it is together. Kate, you may want to add or expand on some of those thoughts.

Dr. Kate O'Brien
Yeah, I just, there, I guess there are three things that I wanted to add to that. The first is that we have spoken, you know, in this, in this convening, about the challenges ahead to deploy the vaccine. But there is so much that people can do to overcome those challenges. And we really need everybody who's putting their oar in the water, being in the boat, and rowing in the same direction. There's a lot that people in communities can do to facilitate, to really ease the delivery of the vaccine. Notwithstanding that we are already hearing—as, as I think everybody knows—that there are questions, and lots of uncertainty among some people for a vaccine that we don't even really have yet. And it's extremely important that people have an understanding about the importance of the vaccines, and that we have not compromised in any way the evaluation of safety in the evaluation of these vaccines. I know there are questions about that. And it's extremely important that people are getting their information from credible sources. So, that's the first: everybody in the community can do something to ease the delivery's, you know, pathway that we're all going to have to walk together.

The second is that, so we do have this light at the end of the tunnel. And as fast as these vaccines have been developed, everybody is doing everything possible to go as quickly as possible, without compromising safety, or efficacy, or manufacturing quality, to get decisions on authorizing the vaccines, and getting them out there. So, that's the first: we do have that light out there. It also means that we've proven through these two results that the target for the vaccines seems to be the right target. This is a virus that, if you can develop antibodies against that part of the virus that pretty much all these vaccines are targeting—so we also have great hope that there will be another series of vaccines coming in right behind these. And, therefore, more supply than maybe we anticipated there would be.

The second point is I really want to point our attention to young people. And I think we're starting to really, really understand this, what I think is starting to be termed this "Generation Disrupted." And so, there are things that we can do, especially for children, adolescents, and those who are, you know, trying to begin their lives. For anybody who has the opportunity to employ somebody, to create an internship, to just allow these young people to get started with their lives, in spite of these massive disruptions to their education, anything that can be done to create opportunities. I think that's really a second focus, that these are a generation of kids, adolescents, young adults, who are going to be marked by this pandemic. And I think it's our responsibility, as the generations ahead of them, to that we benefited from a world that was actually free of Smallpox, that was—largely, for the countries that we're talking about—free of Polio, and they're living through something that, that is as hard as it is for us, it's even harder for them.

And the third that I would really focus on is the essential health services, and I really want to come back to the health and social workers who are maintaining all of the things that we all rely on for our, our good health and the, the needs that we have in hospitals, and clinics, and nursing homes, and, and everywhere. And if we can, you know, just continue to focus our energy on assuring that they are supported, they're funded, that we have the resources to assure that they can do the work that's, that's keeping us all well and safe, while we are speeding towards a new tool that will be added to the tools that we, that we already have, and do not take our foot off the pedal on implementing the existing tools that we have, that we know they work, if they're implemented with fidelity. We can control this virus. But what we need is a new tool, so that we are not as restricted as we are right now. So, I think those are the three things I would just like to add to that.

Antoinette Tummillo
Thank you. There are too many questions, and not enough time to ask. But there is one that's come through several times: how do we convince people to actually get vaccinated who are very nervous about [indiscernible] there? What advice do you have on that?

Dr. Kate O'Brien
Maybe I can start off a bit, and then I'll pass over to Peter. This, you know, the, there is a lot of misinformation out, in social media, in particular, about the vaccines. And I think one of the questions that people have is they've heard over and over—because we've been saying it over and over, and it's true—that this has been vaccine development at unprecedented speed. And I think there's an uncertainty that some people have: well, if it's so unprecedented, how can we be sure that these vaccines actually meet the safety standards that we have set for all vaccines? And the answer to that is the reason that this has gone at speed is: there are several reasons. One is that the entire world is focused on developing these products, and Peter started off earlier today talking about the number of candidates that are in the pipeline for vaccine development. It's like having shots on goal; the more shots on goal you have, the more likely you are to be able to score.

The second reason is that we have amazing scientific technologies that have come forward in the past five and ten years that we didn't have before, when we were developing vaccines. So, there is science behind the ability to sequence, going from actually identifying this virus to sequencing the virus, and having the development of the first candidate, was done in a period of weeks and short months. If you think of HIV as another example from the early 1980's, it took, in fact, several years before the virus was even identified, let alone the sequence of the genes that were encoding those viruses. We now can do that in days. It's because of technology, investment in science, that many governments, including the Canadian government, has made, that allows us to go at speed.

And the third reason that we can go at speed is that we have worked to redesign the processes, so that once we have met the standards of one phase of testing, we can move directly to the next phase of testing without long pauses between those. So, those are some of the reasons why we've gone at speed. And that needs to be communicated to people in the community, and people are around the country, so they have an understanding of why these have gone at speed and are assured of the oversight of safety that we are not compromising on.

And then I think there's a very strong responsibility of those who are in, who have the platform, who have podiums, either through social media, journalists, anybody who's communicating that includes people—like all of you, in the community—to access information from credible sources. There are many, many sources out there that are not credible scientific sources. Go to places that provide scientific credible evidence. And I think it's really incumbent on journalists, social media, actors, to assure that that that they are using information that is not misinformation, or malinformation, or disinformation—we've got all these different terms—and people are communicating with their families and their loved ones about what is actually accurate information.

Dr. Peter Singer
Yeah, Antoinette, I know we're at the end of our time, so I'll be very brief. But I just want to fully agree with what Kate said. I think she answered the question that you asked extremely well. There was an earlier question about WHO in Canada that I just wanted to touch upon, since it did come up earlier. And you heard the appreciation Dr. Tedros expressed for Canada for the government of Canada. I just wanted to add that the relationship, obviously, between WHO and Canada is a 73-year-old relationship, since the founding of WHO. It's strong, it's a very vibrant relationship, and I think, as Kate and I are both international public servants, so we, in a sense, we're neutral, but we're also Canadians, and we feel proud of what Canada is doing, what the government of Canada is doing internationally, and the WHO-Canada relationship that is strengthening, and is continuing to strengthen, and we hope and believe will continue to strengthen even more as we go forward and fight this together, between WHO, all nations of the world, and all peoples of the world. So, Antoinette, thank you very much, on behalf of WHO, Dr. Tedros, on behalf of Kate and I, for giving us the privilege, really, of connecting with our fellow Canadians, and sharing some of these thoughts, at what is a very challenging time for many Canadians. Antoinette, back to you.

Note of Appreciation and Concluding Remarks by Antoinette Tummillo
Thank you very much. I missed the last part, but I will be sure to go back and listen to your answer, Kate. I want to thank you both for being with us today, Ryerson, on behalf of Ryerson, I'm providing the appreciation remarks, and I think that, I'm hoping, I feel hope, I feel that we can all do something. You've given us some guidance. And I think if we all, the analogy you used, Kate, is if we're all rowing in the same direction, we will get there. And I'm an eternal optimist, so I'm going to keep hoping we're going to get there sooner rather than later, and I know that the WHO is doing everything possible to help us get there. So thank you again.

I do want to take a moment to just share with you some of our upcoming events. I encourage people to go online; we've got lots of great events coming up. On November 19th, we've got Minister Sarkaria, Ontario's Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. On November 20th, we've got Blake Hutcheson, President, and CEO of OMERS. On November 26th, we've got Sean Finn, who's the Executive Vice-President at CN. And on December 10th, our Nation Builder of the Year Award, please join us for that; that will be a major event, and we're very excited about this year's award going to the frontline workers, as we've discussed. Who else is more deserving than our frontline workers? So, join us; we've got lots of VIPs and celebrities attending that event. And I also encourage you all to submit a testimonial for a frontline at #NationBuilderHero of your choice. And this can be someone, you know, that is a frontline worker—and yourself, if you're a frontline worker, send it in, and you'll have a chance of winning five thousand dollars—so, registration for all these events is free, and this meeting is now adjourned.

Dr. Peter Singer
Thank you. Bye-bye.