A group of volunteer scientists and public health experts who have provided independent advice on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic say their work is being interrupted, even though the Ford government insists that is not the case.
Ontario’s Scientific Advisory Board has released a statement confirming that Public Health Ontario told it last week that it would be disbanding effective September 6.
Premier Doug Ford told reporters during a news conference in Niagara Falls on Friday that the work previously done by the panel will be “absorbed” by Public Health Ontario and will continue in some form.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health also told CP24 that “the work of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAT) will continue” and that the “transition” currently underway “will help strengthen its provincial resources and ensure that may he continue with his fortress.” connections with the wider academic community”.
“We’re not dissolving it,” Ford insisted. “They will have a full-time home in public health working with (Chief Medical Director) Dr. (Kieran) Moore.”
The decision to close the 35-member board and create a new structure under Public Health Ontario comes less than five months after the independent provincial agency announced it would take over its “operation and oversight.” The panel had previously been hosted by the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
It also follows the resignation of Scientific Advisory Board co-chair Dr Adalsteinn Brown earlier this month.
In a memo sent to Public Health Ontario president and CEO Michael Sherar and released Friday, the remaining panel members said they would aim to complete their existing work by Sept. 6.
They then cited several “key principals” of their “original mandate,” including the ability to “identify and study any scientific issue that our members feel would help Ontario fight COVID-19” and “communicate publicly and openly about the results of our investigations”.
The panel also shared several lessons they said they learned during the pandemic.
These lessons were as follows: science matters, fairness matters, transparency is critical, independence must be perceived and delivered, and timeliness and relevance are essential.
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues and contributes to the growing number of crises in Ontario’s health care system,” the memo states. “Each of us at the science table has a contribution to make to the effort to ensure the health of Ontario, and we will now fully return to that work.”
Ontario’s Scientific Advisory Board is made up of dozens of scientists and other experts, who have volunteered their time to study numerous aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, often providing strong advice to the government about the need for public health measures to limit the spread
The board also had a separate modeling group, responsible for frequent projections of COVID-19 that often provided early warning of impending waves of the pandemic.
In a statement released Friday, the panel’s scientific director, Dr. Farhad Razak, said it had been a “great privilege” to serve on the panel since its inception and said he hoped some of the “difficult” advice he ultimately provide “help reduce suffering” during “the worst public health crisis in a century.”
Razak, however, warned that the “pandemic will remain a daunting challenge for the foreseeable future” and expressed hope that the “principals on which the table was based” will somehow remain.
“I hope we can all take the necessary steps to reduce the burden of the pandemic to keep our system running in the difficult months ahead,” he said.
The government often ignored the advice
The science desk’s advice often differed from the actions taken by the Ford government during the pandemic, with its former chief science officer, Dr Peter Juni, often taking to the airwaves to strongly urge Queen’s Park to act more aggressively.
He also at times found himself at odds with some of the decisions made by the Ford government, particularly its decision to close playgrounds and other recreational facilities during a devastating wave of the pandemic in the spring of 2021.
The dissolution of the board, at least in its current form, comes with a downward trend in caseloads at more than half of Ontario’s public health units, even as experts warn of a fall wave of the pandemic that could put more pressure on Ontario’s already overburdened health care. system
Students will also return to classrooms next month, with mask mandates no longer in place and many other temporary public health mechanisms, such as cohorting and mandatory physical distancing, no longer in place.
At this time, it is unclear what form the advisory group might take under Public Health Ontario.
In a statement provided to CP24, the independent government agency said the terms of reference are “currently being finalised”.
He said that once complete the group’s new mandate would allow it to “continue to provide a credible and independent scientific and technical audience”. He also said the membership “will continue to be made up of independent experts”.
“The new terms of reference establish a mandate that reflects a sustainable long-term approach,” the statement said.