OTTAWA – Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam has cautioned Canadians about believing a vaccine will mean a return to pre-pandemic behaviour.
In a recent CBC press conference, she said physical distancing, the use of masks and adequate hand washing were all behaviours we should be getting used to for the foreseeable future.
Two months ago Tam said in a response to a question about the eventual arrival of a vaccine, “We do not know how effective a vaccine is going to be, whether it will prevent serious illness, does it prevent you from getting an infection?” she said. It is possible a vaccine will not protect someone from an infection but would help fight off serious side effects from COVID-19. At this point in time, according to Dr. Tam, no one knows what a vaccine will do. “The answers to these questions remain unknown,” she said.“ We cannot at this stage put all of our focus on the hope that this is our “silver bullet” solution. She said that the public health measures that Canadians are already taking would likely have to continue into the future even if a vaccine was developed.
