Remarks from the Chief Public Health Officer on COVID-19, December 15, 2020

Bonjour à toutes et à tous. There have been 468,862 cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including 13,553 deaths. Nationally, there are over 75,842 active cases across the country.

Yesterday, 6,731 cases were reported nationally. In addition, there were almost 1,400 new cases reported for Saturday and Sunday. This brings the average daily case count to over 6,540 cases for the past week. The number of people experiencing severe illness continues to increase. Over the past 7 days, there were on average 3,020 individuals with COVID-19 being treated in Canadian hospitals, including over 600 in critical care and an average of over 110 deaths were reported each day.

Following last week’s authorization of the first COVID-19 vaccine for use in Canada, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), Canada’s independent expert advisory group on immunization, has released recommendations on the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. NACI’s recommendations include important guidance on its safe and effective administration. This includes the time interval between the first and second dose of the vaccine and considerations for special populations, such as pregnant women and individuals who are immunocompromised or who have had a severe allergic reaction to any of the components used in the vaccine. NACI’s expert recommendations will support the provinces and territories and Indigenous leaders in the roll out of the COVID-19 immunization campaign across jurisdictions. As the COVID-19 landscape continues to evolve, NACI recommendations will be updated with additional evidence on authorized vaccines as it becomes available.

Yesterday was a day of hope and excitement. Less than a week following the approval of the first vaccine, we began to hear and see the experiences of the first people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Canada, including personal support workers in Ontario and residents of long term care in Quebec. Today we have more good news with the prospect of early availability of the Moderna vaccine once it receives regulatory approval. It is evident from the pace with which we have been able to move from approval, to delivery, and rollout of the first vaccinations programs for priority populations that the ground has been well prepared for the next chapter in our response.

As we move into this next chapter of Canada’s COVID-19 response, I want to focus on a special ingredient that has and will continue to underpin our success. That is the partnership between public health and the public at large. When we all work together, each of us doing our part to reduce the likelihood of getting infected and spreading the virus, we are helping our health workforce. Our continued efforts are not only helping public health to quickly interrupt chains of transmission, we are also assisting the broader health workforce to plan for and rollout out one of the most complex immunization campaigns in Canada’s history. Canadians can continue to help by following public health advice, and keeping up with good hygiene habits –physical distancing, handwashing and mask wearing– to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while we prepare the ground for widespread and lasting control through immunization.

Read my backgrounder to access more COVID-19 Information and Resources on ways to reduce the risks and protect yourself and others.

For more in depth information, see the first of a series of issue statements on the COVID-19 vaccines in Canada that will delve deeper into this topic over the coming weeks.