Dr. Tam suggests that Canada will have to live with coronavirus even with vaccine

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday, Dr. Tam said that doctors and government officials are preparing to deal with the pandemic for years following its initial outbreak, according to CTV News.

Previously, researchers and pharmaceutical companies have optimistically suggested that a vaccine may be ready before 2021. This, however, has been criticized for its naivety.

Dr. Tam gloomily asserted that Canada "can't at this stage just put all of our focus [on the vaccine] in the hopes that this is the silver bullet solution."

"It is a very important solution if we get a safe and effective vaccine, but I would say that the public health measures that we have in place, the sort of personal, daily measures that we take, is going to have to continue," she added.

It is still unclear how effective this vaccine could be. Researchers are yet to understand how strong the immunity would be, and how long it would last.

So far, Canada has experienced 117 thousand cases of coronavirus. The majority of these have been in Ontario and Quebec.

Nearly 9,000 people have died of the virus in Canada since it's outbreak.