The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated just how ill-prepared the world was for a major health crisis. The pandemic continues to have an impact in Canada and around the world. The virus remains with us, and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) continues to encourage Canadians to get vaccinated, receive their boosters and wear a well-fitting mask especially when among at-risk populations. Canada must also do more to support international vaccination efforts against COVID-19 to reduce global inequities and the impact of future COVID-19 variants.

“As burned-out health care workers do their best to try to clear up a staggering backlog of surgeries and other delayed care, learning from the past two-plus years and preparing for the future must be a priority for governments, health authorities and society overall,” says Dr. Katharine Smart, president of the CMA. “It’s critical that governments and health stakeholders plan now to build public health capacity, enhance infectious disease surveillance and increase trust in public health. We must also continue to do our fair share globally.”

The CMA supported the Public Health Physicians of Canada’s review of the pandemic, Public Health Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic, which includes several key recommendations to bolster public health capacity in Canada.

The CMA is particularly supportive of the following recommendations that would require action from federal, provincial and territorial governments:

• increase funding and resourcing of public health teams and organizations;
• acknowledge and address the significant burnout among public health and health care teams; and
• collaborate with communities to address systemic discrimination in health care and public health, including with respect to Indigenous health, with dedicated funding.

These steps, coupled with revitalizing our health workforce, are critical to ensuring Canada is prepared for future waves of COVID-19 or another virus that could threaten lives, the health system and the economy.

In addition, the CMA strongly urges the federal government to accelerate its efforts against COVID-19 on the global stage. According to Our World in Data, while approximately 65% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, only 17.8% of people in low-income countries have received one.