Ebola Vaccine Developer Resigns From Canada’s Vaccine Task Force, Calls for Transparency

Gary Kobinger, the leader of the Canadian research team that developed a highly effective Ebola vaccine, has stepped down from Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine task force, calling for greater transparency from the group.

Kobinger, who is currently director of the Research Centre on Infectious Diseases at Université Laval, was confirmed by the Canadian government to have resigned from the task force. Created in April by the government in response to the pandemic, the task force is comprised of 11 members with extensive experience in vaccines.

Michelle Rempel Garner, a conservative member of Canada’s Parliament, echoed Kobinger’s calls for transparency over conflicts of interest and demanded more federal sunlight on the country’s vaccine supply and plans for distribution.

“Not only should the Trudeau Liberals disclose any conflicts of interest that their COVID-19 vaccine task force has, the Trudeau government also needs to be transparent about the number of doses we have secured, the vaccine delivery schedule and their plan to deliver the vaccine across the country,” she said.

The task force already requires that its members sign conflict of interest and confidentiality agreements, but these do not have to be disclosed to the public, according to the group’s protocols.

A spokesperson for Canada’s National Research Council defended the task force’s conflict of interest policy to FDAnews, calling it “robust.”

“All task force members are committed to ensuring the integrity of the advice they provide,” the spokesperson said. “Members will continue to recuse themselves from providing advice on projects where there is a conflict.”

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Canadian government exercised the additional dose option included in its supply agreement with Moderna, ordering 20 million extra doses of the company’s vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273. The drugmaker said it’s still on track to provide up to 56 million doses of its vaccine to the Canadian government in 2021. — James Miessler