The federal government official with final authority on approving vaccines in Canada did not advise for and was at no point consulted about imposing or keeping in place the vaccine mandate in travel, court documents reveal.
Dr. Celia Lourenco, director general of the Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate in the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada, provided this information in early June while being cross-examined as a government witness in support of the mandate.
Lourenco’s directorate is in charge of reviewing drugs like vaccines and she has the final say on their authorization.
“So I want to be clear, nobody from the Canadian government—and when I say the ‘Canadian government,’ I include the prime minister’s office, the Ministry of Transport, minister of health—no one ever consulted with you as to whether or not the government should enact that vaccine mandate for travel?” asked lawyer Sam Presvelos, who represents applicants Karl Harrison and Shaun Rickard in their legal challenge against the mandate….