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Profiles

Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health

Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health
Image source: Pan-Canadian Public Health Network

The Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health (CCMOH) is a Canadian advisory body housed within the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network (PHN).[1]

COVID-19

Following the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Canada, the CCMOH was activated on January 28, 2020, as part of a time-limited Special Advisory Committee (SAC) to the PHN.[2]

On April 7, 2020, the CCMOH issued a formal statement emphasizing the need to reserve “medical masks, including surgical, medical procedure masks and respirators such as N95 masks” for healthcare workers, and suggested that members of the general public could wear a “cloth mask or face covering” in order to “prevent your respiratory droplets from contaminating others or landing on surfaces.” However, the statement also cautioned that wearing a non-medical mask “has not been proven to protect the person wearing it,” and “will not prevent COVID-19 spread without consistent and strict adherence to good hygiene and public health response measures, including frequent handwashing and physical distancing.”[3]

As of December 2021, "Over 14 public statements had been issued by" CCMOH on behalf of the SAC, including 10 statements supporting the use of COVID-19 vaccines as advised by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).[2:1]

Membership

Name Position Notes
Kristin Klein Former Liaison Representative to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI)[4] Alberta Health Services (AHS)
Martin Lavoie Liaison Representative to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI)[5] British Columbia Ministry of Health

  1. About the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network. (2022, May 10). Pan-Canadian Public Health Network. http://archive.vn/2022.06.01-074003/https://www.phn-rsp.ca/en/about/index.html%23a4 ↩︎

  2. Bhatia, D., Allin, S., & Di Ruggiero, E. (2023). Mobilization of science advice by the Canadian federal government to support the COVID-19 pandemic response. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01501-8 ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. Public Health Agency of Canada. (2020, April 6). Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health Communication: Use of Non-Medical Masks (or Facial Coverings) by the Public. Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2020/04/ccmoh-communication-use-of-non-medical-masks-or-facial-coverings-by-the-public.html ↩︎

  4. National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI): Membership and representation. (2021, February 3). Government of Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20210203234834/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/national-advisory-committee-on-immunization-naci/naci-membership-representation.html ↩︎

  5. Biographies. (2021, July 27). Government of British Columbia. http://archive.vn/2024.06.14-235647/https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/biographies ↩︎