The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Vaccines, COVID variants & getting back to ‘normal’
Can we ever get back to normal?
Life as we knew it was upended almost a year ago. We all want the pandemic to be over, but instead we're seeing virulent new variants of the coronavirus. Miraculously fast-tracked new vaccines are slowly rolling out, but most of us don't know when we'll get one — or how effective they'll be.
In the midst of this uncertainty, whom better to ask where things stand than the co-chair of Canada's national COVID-19 vaccine task force, Halifax's own Dr. Joanne Langley?
Dr. Langley heads infectious diseases at the IWK Health Centre and researches vaccines at the IWK'S Canadian Centre for Vaccinology. She's a professor in the departments of pediatrics and community health and epidemiology at Dalhousie University.
Last spring, Ottawa tapped her to co-chair the national mission to find vaccines to protect Canadians against COVID-19. Her appointment was announced in August.
Spoiler alert. Despite the ongoing challenges and bevy of unknowns, this top infectious disease expert says we're at “a turning point for mankind, in terms of scientific advances.” Why?
First, there's the success of never-before-utilized MRNA — messenger RNA — vaccines.
Instead of using live but weakened, or inactivated, virus or virus particles, MRNA vaccines teach the body to itself produce a spike protein of a target virus — which then triggers an immune response.
Though MRNA technology had been researched for decades, it had never before seen large-scale, real-world use.
“This was their first application to infectious diseases,” she says. “And now, we see how well they work.”
Both the Pfizer-biontech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in use in Canada, with 90
... we’re at “a turning point for mankind, in terms of scientific advances.”
per cent or better efficacy, use MRNA technology.
The technology is gamechanging.
“It just opens the door to the prevention of so many other infectious diseases,” she says. “Like, can we use the MRNA vaccine for other infectious diseases that we're having difficulty with? Like cytomegalovirus (CMV). Or, you know, really anything.”
That includes cancer and other illnesses where vaccines could be both preventative and therapeutic.
Second, there's a growing global awareness infectious diseases are a planetary problem, not one confined to any nation or region.
“These emerging infectious diseases, because of the nature of our life here on the planet, where food goes all over the world, and we go all over the world, they have to be considered on a global basis.”
What does that mean? Being prepared on a planetary scale, with approaches designed to protect us all.
OK, great. But what about this virus, right now?
When will vaccines make it possible to go back to normal?
Unfortunately, that remains unclear, Dr. Langley says, due to a number of unknowns:
• We don't know, for sure, how long it will take to immunize the whole population.
• We don't know, after someone's been immunized, if they can still carry the virus and potentially infect others who haven't been, or cannot be, immunized. Some current trials are looking at precisely that question.
• We don't yet fully know the effect of various COVID19 variants.
How worried should we be about these variants?
Experts are confident the current vaccines should help even against variants, but that's constantly being studied, she says. Astrazeneca's vaccine had low efficacy against the South African variant, so was replaced in that country with other vaccines.
“They do appear to be better at infecting people. It's not clear yet whether it causes more severe disease,” Dr. Langley says. But “you are going to see more severe disease, because more people are going to be infected.”
People must use the same preventative measures — washing hands, masks, social distancing — with variants.
Scientists knew the virus would mutate. Vaccine manufacturers are adapting. For example, Moderna is already developing a next-generation vaccine addressing variants.
We'll get back to some semblance of normal, in time, Dr. Langley says.
We most miss the community aspect of life, the ability to easily spend time with family, friends and neighbours.
“We all want to get back to that, in a safe way.”
In the meantime, she says, we've learned shutdowns don't have to be draconian to be effective.
“Not everything has the same risk. You can adapt your approach to make it safe enough for some parts of life to get back to normal. I think we're figuring out how to do that, bit by bit.”
One of the biggest unknowns is the coronavirus's future.
It could settle down to be more like a cold virus, she says. Or act more like the flu, with annual seasonal outbreaks requiring annual vaccinations. We just don't know yet. “Some parts of our old life may not look the same; I think that's possible.”
Dr. Langley calls being chosen to co-chair the national task force “a great honour.”
I wrapped up our chat with three quick questions. Biggest success?
“That we have vaccines that are actually safe and effective. And they're coming, for Canadians.”
Biggest disappointment? Dr. Langley smiles wryly. “The political aspect.” By that, she means the constant negative chirping from some quarters, despite the unprecedented speed at which effective vaccines have been developed. Biggest surprise?
Not surprise, so much, as amazement at the competence, professionalism and dedication of our federal civil service.
“This expertise that exists below the surface that Canadians don't know about. They're working so hard. They're working weekends, evenings into the night, throughout this whole pandemic. We're going on a year now that they're sustaining that.”