Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa took some time with CP24 to answer questions about the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some of the questions and responses.

(Note: Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity)

CP24 

The Moderna vaccine is going to be shipping out in a couple of days. How significant of an achievement is this and how encouraged are you by the fact that it'll be getting into Canadians’ arms in the coming days?

 

Dr. de Villa

Well, you've heard me say it before and you'll hear me say it again. The very fact that we have vaccines and now we have them available for use in Canada, you know, before the year end is a remarkable achievement. I think I heard on the headlines that it was described as an early Christmas present. It certainly is and it is very encouraging. That being said, we still have some time before a vaccine is actually administered to enough Canadians, that we have enough coverage as a result. So there is definitely hope on the horizon. But in the meantime, we still need to continue with those self protection measures that you know so well -- making sure that we're watching our distance, wearing our masks and washing our hands. Absolutely so.

CP24

The Ontario government put out a statement today suggesting that Ontario will be getting about 53,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine by the end of the year. Do you have a sense yet as to how many of those 53,000 will come to Toronto?

 

Dr. de Villa

Well I think these are some of the details that are just being worked out. This is all very of the minute, but certainly I can say that here at the City of Toronto, we at Toronto Public Health have been working with our other city partners to make sure that we are ready for whenever the vaccines come towards us and we are going to be ready to help ensure a very efficient administration of vaccine as quickly as possible.

 

CP24

The one thing we've heard about the Moderna vaccine to contrast with Pfizer is the fact that it's much more movable and it sounds like a lot of that is going to be prioritized to sort of rural communities, First Nation communities, that sort of thing. Does that potentially mean that Toronto and area may be more focused on the Pfizer vaccine and Moderna will be more away from the city?

 

Dr. de Villa

Well, my understanding of the circumstances is that, because the Pfizer vaccine does have those cold storage special requirements, it is obviously more challenging as a result to move outside of the city or into more remote locations, and the Moderna product as you indicated is a little bit easier in terms of storage requirements and can actually be kept in a regular freezer as opposed to the super cold freezer and therefore can move around more easily. But I don't think that that means it won't be available at all here. Again, lots of details on the logistics still very much being worked out, not only for us here in Toronto, but for all around the province. But the key goal is to make sure that whatever comes at the moment, that when it comes we're as ready as possible in order to make sure that we have an efficient and effective vaccine delivery system. Absolutely.

CP24

Let’s look at some viewer vaccine related questions. The first one goes like this. When and how will someone with an immune-compromised system be notified about when they can get one of the vaccines, will they have to have their specialist give them some kind of confirmation form about their reason for getting it?

 

Dr. de Villa

So it will all depend on the unique circumstances of the individual, you know, whether they're a resident within a long term care home. If you're one of those then you're likely to be higher up on the list. In fact you will be higher up on the prioritization list that's been set out by the province. So, again, it all depends on the unique circumstances but what we know from the province’s prioritization framework at the top of the list are people who are seniors and residents in congregate settings. So things like long term care homes and retirement homes staff who work within those settings and health care workers have also been identified in the early phases.

We know as well that there are adults who are receiving chronic care for long standing conditions who will be included in that early phase grouping as well as adults who are members of indigenous communities. So how exactly it will all roll out as I said, many of the details are still being worked out. We are already seeing administration to staff in long term care homes and with health care workers, and soon, hopefully we'll have residents of long term care homes also part of the mix.

 

CP24

It's just so clear people are just so keen to get this and this next question will cover a bit of the ground that you just had here, but here's the question: Both my wife and I are 90 years old, safe and well at home. How can we know when and where we may receive a COVID vaccination, how to receive the notification when vaccination is scheduled for aging people.

 

Dr. de Villa

So as I understand, the provincial framework for prioritization, we know that adults receiving, say chronic home care or have chronic care needs that are being met even in the community, they're relatively high on the list and we know as well, that those who are older and well and living in the community are also going to be among the earlier recipients in the grand scheme of things.

But again, a number of these details are still being worked out, and information will come out publicly around whose turn it is and who is next in terms of receiving the vaccine. There's no question lots of hope, lots of excitement, but I would just temper that until we get to that moment in time. I think we still all have to maintain resolve to actually practice those self-protection measures we know: staying home as much as possible, really limiting those social interactions to those with whom we live, making sure that we're wearing our masks when we're out and about, you know, managing those essential activities and that kind of thing. All those self-protection measures are absolutely necessary until we get to that point where most of us are vaccinated,

 

CP24

We know most of those vaccine trials took place in generally healthy people so this next question is interesting. That person is asking should people with cancer take the vaccine. Is there any indication of how it reacts with different blood types?

 

Dr. de Villa

So, many of these studies are still ongoing right now, in respect of, you know, how the vaccine works in different populations. So, I think at this stage you know we are still rolling out the vaccines to those who are at that high level of the provincial prioritization framework. That is how we will proceed with vaccine administration. And I would just ask the people stay tuned for more information. There's this sense of excitement isn't there in the air and it's not just about the holiday season. It is indeed about the vaccine. So I would just ask that people stay tuned. Information will be coming, but in the meantime please continue to practice those self-protection measures. They really are incredibly powerful and they're what we need to get us through this last little phase until we can get that vaccine out there, and distributed amongst all those in our community who wish to receive it.

CP24

There’s a new variant or strain of COVID-19, which I guess was first noticed in the UK. Now we're learning it's in Israel, it's in Australia and also in South Africa. How concerned do you think we should be about this new strain. How concerned are you, and for public health with this?

Dr. de Villa

Well, it certainly is something worth monitoring and being aware of, but, you know, in the grand scheme of things we know that viruses are constantly evolving. That is, it's what viruses do as they replicate and as they transmit from person to person. So, certainly something worth watching for and of interest to us to determine, you know, are we seeing a greater degree of transmissibility and does it come with any other features associated with it. So I think we're still very much in the learning phase on this new particular variant of the virus. But what's interesting, I think, is that we have been learning all throughout the pandemic and this gives us yet just another thing to learn about, and as we learn we then apply those lessons learned to our actions, you know, as is necessary. But fundamentally what's important still is that even if there is a significant increase in transmissibility, it still takes us back to those self-protective measures and those behaviors that we know are so important in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and in fact, that just makes them all the more important.

 

CP24

I guess you're learning a lot about this new strain from the federal government. They're monitoring it very closely. Do you have any measures in place to detect it with our contact tracing at all?

 

Dr. de Villa

So, this is not the kind of thing that you can detect through contact tracing. In fact, this is the kind of thing that has to be done by our partners at the laboratory, and at the provincial laboratory in particular, they're the ones that are able to take the samples along with it. There's also federal labs to be fair as well, but it's in that laboratory process that they're able to do the genetic analysis and determine which strain of the virus are we looking at here when they actually have a sample. So that has to be done through that method.

CP24

Okay, so I guess no panic at this point is the key message here.

 

Dr. de Villa

Well, always watchful monitoring and you know it doesn't seem to be that panic behooves us in any situation. What does work though, is making sure that we are keeping our distance to the greatest extent possible or minimizing our interactions to those with whom we live, wearing your mask, washing your hands, just good practice you've heard me speak about so often for weeks and months now.

CP24

What do you think has been the biggest challenge in dealing with this pandemic for you, for your team? What was the most difficult thing to get sorted.

 

Dr. de Villa

Well there are so many difficult challenges when you're talking about a pandemic, something that's been characterized as an unprecedented challenge. There's no shortage of challenges to describe, but I think if I had to pick one, it would be that there were these constant sort of changes that needed to be made and that was part of learning about a new virus and responding to something while you're learning about it at the same time. I mean that is an incredible challenge I think for anyone, much less you know, when something has created this much havoc the world over.