Canada’s top doctor says she thinks the need for massive lockdowns and other COVID-19 restrictions could be over before the end of the summer.

Dr. Theresa Tam says its because the results from the ongoing COVID-19 vaccinations across the country so far are encouraging. But she says some of the more personal measures, like wearing masks and limiting close contact with people outside your household, may be around for longer.

Tam says there are several factors that will determine when Canadians can return to something more closely resembling a normal life, including new COVID-19 variants and how quickly fast vaccines are injected.

“The key is to get the vaccination levels high so that we reduce the chances of those massive upswings in resurgence in order to keep society going,” said Tam, during a press conference this morning.

As it stands, Canada is aiming to vaccinate all of its residents who want to be vaccinated by September, despite recent delays in the delivery of vaccines from both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Tam is hopeful that some of the most difficult restrictions could disappear even before that goal is reached, given the positive results vaccines are showing so far.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hoping that lockdowns won’t be needed in his country after June 21, but Tam wouldn’t put a specific date on that step for Canada.

“You can’t put an absolute date on one of these things, but having everybody get the vaccine is a massive step towards returning to a more normal life,” she added.

There are now 101 cases of the so-called variants of concern – 81 of the B.1.1.7 (UK variant) and 20 of the B.1.31 (South African variant) in British Columbia. There are also two cases of the B.1.525 (Nigerian) variant under investigation.

Four of those variant cases are active with 97 considered to have recovered, according to the provincial government.

As of yesterday, B.C. health officials say they have now administered 218,726 COVID-19 vaccines doses, with 55,057 of those being second doses.

– With files from The Canadian Press