Caroline Quach-Thanh

Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh is the former Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), having first served as a member and then Vice-Chair since 2017.¹⁾

She oversaw the approval of COVID-19 vaccines in Canada. In response to criticism and confusion following NACI’s recommendations (such as its changing guidance on the AstraZeneca product), she admitted that the council’s members were exhausted from the totality of their workload.²⁾

Dr. Quach is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.³⁾ The CAHS recently received funding from Wellcome Trust to “scope out the current state of systems-based public health research and practice and to identify what steps could be taken to advance the field.” A report for the project was published online September 16, 2021.⁴⁾

Dr. Quach is employed at CHU Sainte-Justine as Medical Lead in the Infection Prevention and Control Unit.⁵⁾

The hospital is funded through the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation by Abbott, AbbVie, Altona Diagnostics (a company that manufactures PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2),⁶⁾ Apotex, Azelis, Bayer, Canadian National Railway, CSL, DePuy Synthes (a Johnson & Johnson company), Eli Lilly, IBM, Janssen, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Nestlé Nutrition Institute, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Servier, Teva, and the University of Toronto.⁷⁾

Notably, Dr. Quach herself has donated over $50,000.00 to the foundation.

On October 18, 2021, Dr. Quach was quoted in a press release stating that PCR testing should be used in a school setting for asymptomatic students due to their relative sensitivity, whereas rapid antigen tests should be reserved for children displaying symptoms.⁸⁾

Dr. Quach is an adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health at McGill University.⁹⁾ She previously served as Medical Director of the McGill University Health Centre Vaccine Study Centre, a clinical research centre that had (at the time) ran “over 75” studies in vaccines and epidemiology.¹⁰⁾ She later became Co-Director, where she has presided over the following COVID-19 studies:^{11) 12)}

• COvid-19 Vaccine Booster in Immunocompromised Rheumatic Diseases (COVBIRD)¹³⁾
  • “People living with Systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) face a new and urgent dilemma: immunosuppression increases risk for worse COVID-19 infection, yet an immune stimulation, such as vaccination, could re-activate their disease. Fear of vaccine-related disease reactivation is not of concern in other immunosuppressed groups (e.g. patients receiving chemotherapy or hemodialysis) but in SARDs, disease flare could lead to organ failure or even death. Specific research in this population is therefore critical. Moreover, among SARD patients, those on anti-CD-20 monoclonal antibody (mAb) (i.e. rituximab (anti-CD-20 mAb)), a medication used to treat inflammatory types of arthritis, have extremely low immunity post-COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. This study will test the hypothesis that a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, using a different vaccine from the one used for primary immunization (mix-and-match approach), is safe and enhances post-vaccine immunity in SARDs patients on anti-CD-20 mAb treatment.”
  • Research arms include groups using Moderna’s SpikeVax, AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria, and Novavax’s NVX-CoV2373
  • Lead by Dr. Paul Fortin in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
  • Estimated completion date: January 2023

• REinfection in COVID-19 Estimation of Risk: extension (RECOVER)¹⁴⁾
  • Studying the immune response to natural infection in health care workers who have had COVID-19
  • Funded by the CIHR
  • Led by Dr. Caroline Quach-Tranh

• COVID-19 Vaccine in Immunosuppressed Adults With Autoimmune Diseases (COVIAAD)¹⁵⁾
  • “This study will evaluate the Moderna RNA-based COVID-19 vaccine currently approved by Health Canada in people with rheumatic diseases. This study will help understand what the side effects of the vaccine in these patients are, and what is their capacity to develop antibodies that may confer protection from the COVID-19 disease.”
  • Led by Dr. Ines Colmegna in collaboration with CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval, Ministere de la Sante et des Services Sociaux
  • Sponsored by the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute
  • Estimated completion date: June 15, 2022

• Study of a Recombinant Coronavirus-Like Particle COVID-19 Vaccine in Adults¹⁶⁾
  • “This Phase 2/3 study is a multi-portion design to confirm that the chosen formulation and dosing regimen of CoVLP has an acceptable immunogenicity and safety profile. The Phase 3 portion is an event-driven, randomized, observer blinded, placebo-controlled design that will evaluate the efficacy and safety of the CoVLP formulation compared to placebo. Subjects will be followed for safety and immunogenicity for a period of 12 months after the last vaccination.”
  • Led by Dr. Brian Ward, Medical Officer of Medicago¹⁷⁾
  • Sponsored by Medicago
  • Estimated completion date: April 30, 2022

• A Study to Evaluate Safety and Effectiveness of mRNA-1273 COVID-19 Vaccine in Healthy Children Between 6 Months of Age and Less Than 12 Years of Age¹⁸⁾
  • “The primary goal for this study is to evaluate up to 3 dose levels of mRNA-1273 vaccine given to healthy children in 2 doses, 28 days apart.”

On an archived version of the centre’s Frequently Asked Questions page, the following answer is provided regarding vaccine safety:¹⁹⁾

• “On average, it takes about 10 years of research and development before a vaccine is considered for approval by Health Canada. Following approval, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommends how the vaccine should be used.”

The same page acknowledges that human cell lines may be used in the development stages of vaccines.

Dr. Quach is employed at the Québec Institute of Public Health (INSPQ) in the divisions of Healthcare-Associated Infections and Immunization.²⁰⁾ In this role, she has spoken publicly against “vaccine disinformation” and has described vaccination as a collective responsibility.^{21) 22)} She is also a member of the ​​INSPQ’s Québec Immunization Committee, including as Chair from March 2015 to June 2019.²³⁾

In 2014, Dr. Quach received an award for excellence in research from the Montréal Children’s Hospital Foundation.²⁴⁾ This was announced in an employee newsletter whose front cover featured Pfizer as the publication’s sponsor. Other corporate partners include Shire (since absorbed by Takeda).²⁵⁾

In 2016, Dr. Quach was awarded the John Embil Mentorship Award in Infectious Diseases by the Canadian Foundation for Infectious Diseases.²⁶⁾ The CFID is partnered with AbbVie, Altona Diagnostics, BD, BioMérieux, Gilead Sciences, Merck, Micronostyx, Specialty Rx Solutions, and Sunovion.²⁷⁾

Dr. Quach served as President of the Association for Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Canada (AMMI) from March 2016 - May 2018.²⁸⁾ AMMI Canada receives sponsorship funds from Merck, Gilead Sciences, Seqirus, DiaSorin, Hologic, Roche, Pfizer, Avir Pharma, Moderna, and R-Biopharm.^{29) 30)}

Dr. Quach is a Leadership Group member of the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, as Chair of the Vaccine Safety Reference Group.³¹⁾ In this position, she participated in a study evaluating effects of COVID-19 vaccines in children. The study was funded to the tune of approximately $1.8 million.

“With the vaccine rollout in youth ages 12 to 17 already underway in Canada, this study is extremely relevant. This study will bring together information from hospitals across Canada, to more quickly identify patterns of experience that will help determine whether some of the things that they are seeing are related to vaccination. The faster our experts are able to react, the faster we will be able to find solutions.”³²⁾

On November 1, 2020, Dr. Quach was awarded the Canada Research Chair, Tier 1 in Infection Prevention and Control.³³⁾ The focus of her project, “from Hospital to Community”, is minimizing healthcare-associated infections as well as evaluating the risks and benefits of vaccine regimens. She was awarded $1,400,000.00 for the period of November 1, 2020 - October 31, 2027 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under the Canada Research Chairs Program.³⁴⁾

Dr. Quach’s research interests are vaccine-preventable diseases, healthcare-associated infections (particularly bloodstream), and the transmission of infections.

In 2017, Dr. Quach co-authored a study reviewing existing guidelines and recommendations for the use of antiviral medications for influenza.³⁵⁾ Quach received funding and study protocol guidance from the Public Health Agency of Canada, and she disclosed receiving other funding from PHAC at the time of the study.

Dr. Quach was Principal Investigator in a study examining how sex differences affect influenza vaccines, with a study period from April 1, 2018 - March 31, 2020. For this, she received a $149,815.00 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.^{36) 37)}

She also received a grant of between $50,000.00 - $100,000.00 from Mitacs to assess the efficacy of influenza vaccines using administrative data. The grant began in 2019 and will end in 2022.

Dr. Quach co-authored a 2015 paper discussing vaccination of premature babies. She discloses having previously received funding from AbbVie, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Sage Therapeutics in the form of research grants or “support for unrelated research projects.”³⁸⁾

In August 2020, Dr. Quach co-authored a paper exploring a framework for “ethics, equity, feasibility, and acceptability” in the development of national vaccine guidance, with the intention of setting an international example.³⁹⁾

While serving as Chair of NACI in June 2020, Dr. Quach received a $2,624,964.00 operating grant from the CIHR for a COVID-19 Rapid Research Funding Opportunity.⁴⁰⁾ The funding was to last until May 31, 2021, and supported a variety of COVID-19-related initiatives, including:

• “Accelerate the availability of high-quality and real-time evidence to support Canada’s rapid response to the global pandemic in order to better prevent, detect, treat and manage COVID-19;”
• “Develop, test, and study the implementation of effective interventions to prevent, detect, treat, and manage COVID-19 at the individual and/or population levels by reorienting or amplifying existing research platforms, networks, and trials as well as funding new research projects within existing and established research infrastructure;”
• “Enable Canadian engagement and coordination in national and international large-scale trials and better enable harmonized data collection, sharing of data, quasi-experimental and observational studies, and rapid large-scale evaluation of impact;”
• “Provide evidence to inform clinical and health system management and public health response, and/or decision-making and planning within and across jurisdictions in Canada and internationally;” and
• “Enhance local, national and/or international collaborative efforts, including in low- and middle-income countries, to mitigate the rapid spread of COVID-19 and related negative consequences.”

She also received a $100,000.00 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in November 2020 as a co-investigator for a project called “Deciphering the immunopeptidomic landscape of COVID-19 disease,” while she was still serving as NACI chair.^{41) 42)} The description reads:

• “Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Between December 2019 and September 2020, SARS-CoV-2 had infected more than 30M people and killed more than 1M. Ease of transmission combined with disease severity have led leaders around the world to restrict individual movements and promote physical distancing measures to limit the spread. Therefore, rapid delivery of safe and efficient vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 is the top priority. Importantly, the development of efficient vaccines can be accelerated by a clear understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 targets that are recognized by the human immune system. Until now, very limited information is available about those targets. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 is mutating as the pandemic persists, but it is unclear how those mutations influence the ability of the immune system to eliminate the virus. Here, we propose to deploy an innovative viral epitope discovery platform to identify those mutated and non-mutated targets in a rapid, systematic and unbiased manner. The proposed research will therefore assist vaccine design and will facilitate the evaluation of vaccine candidates as they advance in the clinic.”

• White Rose Wiki