Top doctor says vaccines could allow toughest restrictions to lift before fall

Public health officer buoyed by early COVID inoculation results

OTTAWA — Canada’s chief public health officer says results from COVID-19 vaccinations are so encouraging that she thinks the need for massive lockdowns could be over before the end of the summer.

“It will it even (be) before September, I think, depending on a number of factors, such as vaccine uptake, ongoing monitoring of other variants, and how vaccine coverage is provided,” Dr. Theresa Tam said Tuesday at a news conference in Ottawa.

She said personal protective choices like masks and limited in-person contacts could be with us longer but those will depend on how well vaccines prevent not just serious illness and death, but also the spread of the novel coronavirus. Data on transmission is still being analyzed, said Tam.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson laid out a plan for restoring life in the United Kingdom Tuesday that predicted the worst of its lockdowns could be over by June 21. The U.K. is far ahead of Canada on vaccinations, aiming to have every adult receive their first dose by the end of July.

Canada’s current goal is for that to happen by the end of September, with interim goals to vaccinate at least three million people by the end of March and more than 14 million people by the end of June.

Tam wouldn’t give a specific date for when lockdowns will no longer be needed, but this is the closest Canadian officials have ever come to putting any kind timeline on when widescale restrictions will actually end.

Tam however warned that the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is tricky and prone to sudden turns.

DARRYL DYCK THE CANADIAN PRESS Students watch as teachers dressed in red participate in a solidarity march to raise awareness about cases of COVID-19 at Ecole Woodward Hill school, in Surrey, B.C., Tuesday.