Question Period Note: Canadian institutes of health research support for COVID-19 research

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• Canadians and people around the world are expecting the international research community to generate evidence to inform how decisions are made to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and its long-term impacts and return to a more normal life.
• Research is central to our domestic and international efforts to address COVID-19 and the Canadian research community has risen to the challenge at an unprecedented pace.
• Through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), our government has been working hand in hand with domestic and international partners to find solutions to this pandemic and its long-term health consequences.
• I have confidence that these initiatives led by CIHR will continue to contribute to the evidence we need to help Canada address this public health crisis.

IF PRESSED ON DETAILS OF THESE INVESTMENTS…
• Since March 2020, CIHR has moved quickly, working with partners, to invest more than $414 million in 965 research projects, which focus not only on vaccines, but also on other therapeutics, testing, and transmission dynamics, and other COVID-19 related priority areas as they emerged.
• This includes support for the creation of new research evidence to address the substance use and mental health needs of Canadians during these difficult times.
• Through Budget 2022, our government reiterated our commitment to understanding the long-term effects of COVID-19 infections on Canadians’ health and health systems. Through these investments, CIHR recently launched a funding opportunity that will establish a research network to strengthen Canada’s capacity to undertake and contribute to ongoing research and support an evidence-based and equitable response to post COVID-19 condition.
• These investments support research that will increase our understanding of persistent and emerging gaps and priority areas – including variants of concern and Long-COVID – that continue to provide decision makers with rapid evidence from which guidance can be developed and evaluated.

COVID-19 Rapid Research Response at a glance:
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), as Canada’s health research funding agency, has moved at an unprecedented pace to mobilize the research community and deliver programs while maintaining rigour in funding the most outstanding research.

Since March 2020, CIHR has invested approximately $414 million in 965 COVID-19 research projects. These projects span everything from diagnostics and potential treatments to public health responses and communication strategies.
CIHR has also worked with partners to invest in Canadian COVID-19 research with dedicated funding for specific topics such as:
• Indigenous communities’ experiences with COVID-19;
• addressing the mental health and substance use challenges facing Canadians during the pandemic;
• how to keep residents and staff of long-term care homes safe from COVID-19;
• developing guidelines related to prescribing and dispending opioids during the pandemic; and
• accelerating research and leading the formation of a variant network to coordinate and align efforts in this field.

CIHR also has engaged with international partners to ensure the alignment and coordination of Canada’s research with the international response.
Most recently, CIHR, in collaboration with Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, has invested $10 million to create a pan-Canadian platform to advance research into the effectiveness and clinical challenges of new COVID-19 treatments in non-hospitalized patients. The Canadian ADAptive Platform Trial of COVID-19 Therapeutics in Community Settings will evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments, such as outpatient medications for COVID-19 and whether they prevent hospitalization and post COVID-19 condition.

CIHR has also provided $6.7M over 2 years to establish the Pediatric Outcomes Improvement through Coordination of Research (POPCORN), which is a research structure that is able to comprehensively answer important child health questions on COVID-19 including the acute and long-term outcomes following COVID-19 infection and to understand vaccinations in children. In collaboration with the COVID Immunity Task Force, a $3M supplement has been provided to support the supplement of the POPCORN to rapidly initiate this serosurvey study on children and youth.

Further, the Government of Canada, under the leadership of CIHR, has established a Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies. The Research Centre will allow CIHR to support real-time knowledge translation and knowledge mobilization for use by the research community and decision-makers alike, as well as to invest $15 million per year to build capacity and fund research into emergent priorities in pandemic preparedness.

For example, the Centre has been leveraged to implement an investment of $20 million over 5 years in a Canadian Post COVID-19 Condition Research Network. The network will strengthen Canada’s capacity to undertake and contribute to ongoing research on post COVID-19 condition and enable the use of existing and emerging research evidence in a timely and comprehensive manner while engaging relevant stakeholders, which allows for more equitable and inclusive processes. Competition results are anticipated early in the new year.

• Since the beginning of the pandemic, CIHR and partners have invested over $414 million on 965 research projects through 40 competitions.
• Funds have been allocated towards the initial Rapid Research response to develop COVID-19 tests and vaccines, as well as to the study of the mental health impacts and long-term health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadians.
• Budget 2022 committed $20 million over 5 years to support additional research on the long-term effects of COVID-19 infections on Canadians, as well as the wider impacts of COVID-19 on health and health care systems.