Allison Joan McGeer (born 1953) is a Canadian infectious disease specialist in the Sinai Health System, and a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto.
She also appointed at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a Senior Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and is a partner of the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases.
[2] She holds a joint position as Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and of Infectious Diseases at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
She has received research grants from Pfizer and Seqirus, as well as personal and consulting fees from AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Medicago, Merck, Moderna, and Sanofi Pasteur.
The basic reproduction number of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was between 2.2 and 3.7, but super-spreading events (highly efficient transmission of the virus) occurred in some hospital settings.
[30] In late January 2020, McGeer expressed concerns over the ability to contain SARS-CoV-2,[31][32] particularly the unknown incubation period, which makes it difficult to track and quarantine people who have been exposed.
[36] At the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were considering whether to advise members of the public to wear masks when they left the house, and they had been made mandatory in the Czech Republic.
[39] In May 2021, McGeer explained that National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) deliberations over the use of COVID-19 vaccines in Canada couldn't be made available to the public because the agency "has nothing like the budget or staff that would be needed" to do so.
"[40] She welcomed NACI's September 2021 recommendation of a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for residents of long-term and congregate care facilities, citing evidence of waning immunity among this population.
[41] McGeer was recruited as a member of the newly formed Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee (OIAC), created by Chief Medical Officer of Health Kieran Moore in August 2021 to work on provincial vaccine programs (including for COVID-19).