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Tackling health misinformation and rebuilding public trust are top priorities for Canada’s incoming chief public health officer Dr. Joss Reimer.
In an interview Friday, the day her three-year appointment to the role was made public, the Manitoba native said it’s critical for the federal government to take a proactive approach to countering false information.
“One of the biggest challenges with health misinformation is the speed at which it changes, because it doesn’t take a lot of time to come up with a lie,” she said.
She acknowledged that trust in institutions, including health information, was eroded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Because there was so much difficulty — people were losing jobs and income, people were being separated from loved ones. And whether or not those were right decisions, it was hard,” she said.
“And so we have a lot of trust-building that we’re going to need to do that’s going to take years.”
The pandemic thrust public health officials across the country into the spotlight. Dr. Theresa Tam, Reimer’s predecessor in the job, became a household name as she gave near-daily updates for months on end to Canadians who were anxiously trying to stay on top of shifting epidemiological information and public health advice.
Tam retired in June after eight years in the role.
Reimer also had a public role during the pandemic as chief medical officer for the Winnipeg health authority. She was also the medical lead for Manitoba’s COVID-19 vaccine implementation task force.
Health Minister Marjorie Michel noted in a statement that Reimer joins the Public Health Agency at a critical time.
She said Canada is facing “a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, the threats posed by avian influenza A (H5N1), HIV and tuberculosis, the ongoing impacts of the illegal drug crisis and the harmful impacts of false health information.”
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Reimer said she has a unique perspective on the measles outbreak.
“I come from a small town which is part of the measles outbreak and where we have seen a fair bit of vaccine hesitancy. And we need to have partnerships from on the ground, from community leaders all the way up to the federal government,” she said.
The measles outbreak has gone on long enough that Canada has lost the measles elimination status it had held since 1998 — something that public health experts across the country say is alarming. The United States and Mexico are at risk of losing their status as well.
Reimer said it’s not a shock that measles cases are on the rise, given how “incredibly infectious” the disease is and “given that there is more misinformation and more vaccine hesitancy.”
Canadian health officials have warned that misinformation is not limited to social media.
In December, Michel told The Canadian Press that American health institutions are no longer reliable sources of information for Canadians, since the Trump administration gutted funding to many research and scientific institutions and began promoting false information about vaccines.
Michel said at the time that U.S. President Donald Trump “slapped us (in) our face” and changed the long-standing relationship between the two nations when he took office just over a year ago.
Reimer said Canada needs to stand on its own and ensure it’s sharing trustworthy information.
“I know that there are still really amazing people in the American system doing wonderful work, and so I think that there’s a lot of ways that we can continue to work together,” she said.
Reimer has a master’s degree in public health and has conducted research on sexually transmitted diseases and drug-related harms.
Nancy Hamzawi, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s president, said she looks forward to working with Reimer.
“At a time when strong, science-driven leadership has never been more important, I am confident that her vision and dedication will help advance the public health and well-being of Canadians,” Hamzawi said in a press release.
Reimer is the past president of the Canadian Medical Association and during her tenure delivered a formal apology to Indigenous Peoples for the harms caused by the medical profession.
Dr. Margot Burnell, the Canadian Medical Association’s current president, said Reimer was a source of calm and measured leadership for Manitobans during the pandemic.
At the CMA, Reimer “led the fight against false health information and advocated strongly for solutions to improve access to care for everyone in Canada,” Burnell said.
Reimer is set to begin her term on April 1.
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