In 1975, focus on advice related to the introduction of new vaccines and to assist in the development of immunization programs became the new mandate of the committee.
[3] The NACI is composed of 14 voting members (chair, vice-chair, and 12 voting members), executive secretary, roughly a dozen industry liaison representatives, and roughly a dozen ex-officio professional public service representatives from Health Canada.
[1][5] Some of NACI's recommendations have been criticized as counter-productive in terms of public health and communications concerning the pandemic.
[6] In March 2021, amid supply shortages, NACI issued a strong recommendation that second doses of two-dose COVID-19 vaccines (such as the AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer vaccines) be given up to four months after the first, as opposed to the three-to-four week intervals used in the clinical trials and recommended by Health Canada.
"[6] Pfizer Canada president Cole Pinnow warned against the recommendation in the House of Commons, stating that "the data that we’ve seen from a real world evidence perspective that has been used to make arguments to extend the dose schedule has been done on much younger populations", and that "we don't have any data after two months to know what the impact of one dose will be.