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Royal Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer David McKay says Canada is in a race to vaccinate enough people in the next three months to safely reopen its economy.
About 4 million to 4.5 million high-risk Canadians will likely have to be vaccinated before the country can reduce restrictions, and that can be accomplished in about 100 days, McKay said Monday at an investor conference hosted by his bank.
In the meantime, Canada’s economy will remain challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic, which may require more stringent lockdowns that will slow the recovery, he said.
The most heavily-populated regions have been ratcheting up restrictions for weeks. Ontario, Alberta and other provinces have forced restaurants, retailers and other businesses to close or operate at limited capacity; Quebec has even imposed a nightly curfew at 8 p.m.
Virus-related restrictions caused Canada to lose 62,600 jobs in December, the first drop since April. The unemployment rate edged up to 8.6 per cent, Statistics Canada said Friday.
