COVID-19 vaccine a reason to celebrate, just not with other people: Dr. Nicola Mercer

News that a COVID-19 vaccine is on the way is definitely a reason to celebrate, but people shouldn't be changing their plans to gather in the near future, says Dr. Nicola Mercer.

Health Canada announced Wednesday it had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine after a two-month review of the company's clinical trial data. The vaccine could be in some Ontario hospitals as soon as next week.

Mercer, the CEO and medical officer of health for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, says the vaccine rollout locally will "appear very slow for the first few months" as only certain people, such as seniors in long-term care and health-care workers, will be vaccinated.

It likely will be summer before there's an opportunity for the general public to get inoculated.

She says she's heard from some people who think the vaccine news means they can gather over the holidays as they usually would. Mercer told CBC News she finds that "very troubling."

"They don't know what I know and that is: I've seen families and I know of families every day that have been touched by this [virus]," she said.

Mercer has recommended to the province that Wellington County, Dufferin County and Guelph be moved into the "red zone" of the COVID-19 framework. A decision on whether the province agrees is expected on Friday.

"We had a large number of people in our area right now that are in hospital," she said. "Some of those people are not coming out of hospital."

Continue to take precautions, doctors say

Dr. Peter Lin, a Toronto doctor who is also a medical columnist for CBC Radio, said he's heard from patients who are confused about what the vaccine news means for them right now.

"I've had patients saying, 'So Christmas is OK now?' I'm going, 'No, no, no.' You don't want to get the virus now because the vaccine next year will not be able to help you," he said.

Lin says even after people are vaccinated, they should continue to take precautions, including wearing masks and keeping a physical distance because for some people, the vaccine won't work. 

He said there are also asymptomatic carriers, or people without symptoms, who may have the virus in their nose, and it's unclear if the vaccine is strong enough to kill the virus if it already exists in the nose.

"The concern I have is that: I have no symptoms, I don't look sick, I'm still producing virus but I got the shot. So my paperwork is perfect and I think I can go and hug grandma in a long-term care [home] because I think everything is safe and I bring grandma the virus," Lin said. "It will be a mystery case."

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health for Region of Waterloo Public Health, called it "truly good news" that a vaccine will be in Ontario soon but also urged people to continue to follow public health guidelines.

"The vaccination program will require a lot of co-ordination across many sectors. It will take time for the vaccine to be available broadly across our community and across Ontario. Now is not the time to stop practicing public health measures. It is important that we stay the course," she said in a statement.

"These measures, and the vaccine, will work together to protect yourself and your loved ones."

Mercer says if people go back to old behaviours, it may mean they or their friends and family may not live to get the vaccine.

"We are so close to a vaccine to let your behaviours down now, I think it will cause a lot of guilt if you didn't quite make it or a member of your family didn't make it to that vaccine because we just couldn't stay apart just for a little while longer," she said. 

On Thursday, Ontario broke yet another single-day record for new cases of COVID-19. The Ministry of Health reported 1,983 new infections. The new cases push the seven-day average to 1,862.