Ottawa initially did not reveal its existence, then withheld the names of members. And it only divulged their potential conflicts of interest following negative media coverage.
As it turns out, half of the 12 members have conflicts — connections to firms related to the vaccine field — including the two co-chairs. Respected virologist Gary Kobinger resigned from the task force over the issue. The government says it was aware of the conflicts of interest, but deliberately chose members with direct, practical experience and knowledge.
Even now, though, the government does not divulge minutes of the panel’s meetings. Meanwhile, the actual contracts signed by Ottawa are also kept secret. The government says manufacturers insist on confidentiality for competitive reasons, though some other countries have disclosed details of their purchases.
“If we sign contracts with private companies, we need to make the deals public — with the details — so we can understand what’s happening and what’s not happening,” Dr. Joel Lexchin, a former York University health policy professor and drug-industry watchdog, told the committee.
Had the proceedings of the task force been made public, outside experts could have offered feedback, early warnings, for instance, that rapidly building up domestic production capacity was crucial, said Attaran.
“If you take high-stakes decisions secretly behind closed doors … you end up in a dead end after bad decisions are made.”
Secretive Task Force Behind Flawed COVID-19 Vaccine Effort.
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Originally Posted by impact
