Linamar CEO named to Ontario COVID-19 vaccine distribution panel

Ontario has appointed nine people to its COVID-19 vaccine distribution task force, including Linda Hasenfratz, CEO of Linamar.

The auto parts maker, which retooled to produce ventilator components, represents the manufacturing sector on the task force, which will be chaired by retired General Rick Hillier, former chief of defence staff for the Canadian Forces.

The task force will oversee the delivery, storage and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

The group will work in partnership with several ministries to provide the government with diverse expertise in operations and logistics, federal-provincial and Indigenous relations, health and clinical domains, behavioural science, public health and immunization, ethics, and information technology and data.

Beginning immediately, the task force will focus on delivery, logistics and administration, clinical guidance as well as public education and outreach.

The full list of members of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine task force are:

• Dr. Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s chief coroner and coordinator of provincial outbreak response
• Dr. Homer Tien, trauma surgeon and president and CEO, Ornge
• Dr. Maxwell Smith, bioethicist and assistant professor, Western University
• Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious diseases consultant and internist, Toronto General Hospital
• Ontario Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald of Taykwa Tagamou Nation
• Dr. Regis Vaillancourt, director of pharmacy and integrated pain services, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
• Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar Corporation
• Angela Mondou, president and CEO, TECHNATION
• Mark Saunders, former Toronto Police Chief