(OTTAWA) Canada’s chief public health officer said she was preparing for a “worst-case scenario” on the evolution of the COVID-19 virus as cases appear to be on the rise in the fall.
Posted at 2:26 p.m.
Appearing before the House of Commons Health Committee on Tuesday, Dr Theresa Tam said the Public Health Agency of Canada is carefully monitoring the evolution of Omicron variants, which are the most common subvariants. in the country.
Dr. Tam said that at the start of the pandemic, the virus was mutating in all sorts of ways because there was no immunity from previous infection or vaccines.
Now, she says, mutations have been limited as the virus is under pressure to find ways to evade immunity.
Dr Tam said the worst-case scenario would be for the variants to find a way around the effectiveness of vaccines and treatments with monoclonal antibodies.
She added that there seemed to be a slight increase recently in the number of people going for their booster shots, now that they offer protection against newer strains of the virus.