March 11th marked Pandemic Observance Day, which since 2021 has been a national day of remembrance to honour those who died of COVID-19, to acknowledge COVID-19’s serious and ongoing effects on the health of Canada’s population and to recognize those working on the front lines of health care in this country during pandemic times.

Why March 11? It was that date in 2020 when the World Health Organization declared the spread of the novel coronavirus then known as SARS-CoV-2 to be a global pandemic. The urgency of the situation worldwide led to a vaccine being developed in record time – just nine months.

The official world-wide death toll to date has been reported at seven million – with 60,000 of those deaths reported in Canada – though speculation is that both the global and Canadian death rates could be three times higher.

We know the pandemic had a disproportionate impact on Canadian seniors with 70% of deaths in the 70-plus age group.  Marking March 11 annually hopefully allows us also to reflect on ways to prepare for any future pandemics and to continue the conversation about the value of vaccines.