Dr. Madhur Anand, a professor in the School of Environmental Sciences (SES) and director of U of G’s Guelph Institute for Environmental Research, spoke to CBC News about her new research on how to prioritize the administration of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Anand and colleagues at the University of Waterloo recently developed a mathematical model of COVID-19 transmission and vaccination in Ontario, published as a preprint journal, to determine which populations should be vaccinated first, depending on how much of the virus has spread through the community.

Her team found that if vaccination starts early in 2021, vaccinating seniors will prevent the most deaths.

Anand noted to CBC News that vaccines protect not just those who receive them but those around them as well. She said to eliminate COVID-19, public health measures such as enforcing social distancing “are essential, and it’s something that absolutely can be done at the individual level.”

Anand holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Ecological Change and the University Research Chair in Sustainability Sciences. She studies responses of ecological systems to global changes, including climate change and human impacts, and modelling of human-environment sustainability.