15 Facts About Richard Schabas

Richard Schabas was born on December 1951 and is a retired public health physician who served as the Chief Medical Officer of Health in Ontario from 1987 to 1997.

In 2021, Richard Schabas criticized the Ontario government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Richard Schabas contributed to many provincial public health initiatives, including the Ontario Tobacco Strategy, expansion of immunization programs, introduction of breast cancer and colon cancer screening programs, and controlling the SARS outbreak.

Richard Schabas served as the Chief Medical Officer of Health for the province of Ontario from 1987 to 1997, the longest serving individual in that position before or since.

Richard Schabas believed extreme situations involving people who are "unwilling or unable" to take appropriate precautions to reduce or prevent transmission should be dealt with through the public health system, instead of the criminal justice system, a general sentiment shared by many public health bodies, legal organizations and AIDS advisory committees at that time.

Richard Schabas corrected this characterization in a letter to the editor on February 14,1990, in which he states.

Richard Schabas continued to serve as the Chief Medical Officer of Health in Ontario for another seven years, after which he resigned from the position.

In January 2015, Richard Schabas argued that Ontario needed to change its approach on how to handle Influenza, recommending the province focus on immunizing high risk patients, better surveillance of the flu to better prepare for flu seasons, and being more transparent on the efficacy of the Influenza vaccine.

Richard Schabas suggested that the flu vaccine is not as effective as it was once thought to be.

On October 5,2016, in a meeting at the Board of Health, Medical Officer of Health, Richard Schabas announced that he would retire in December 2016, including him retiring from clinically practising Internal Medicine at Campbellford Memorial Hospital.

Richard Schabas decided to retire due to being healthy, having the finances to retire, wanting to spend more time with his grandchildren, and due to him feeling that public health had lost "some of the sense of purpose and direction" Schabas felt it once had.

In January 2021, Richard Schabas criticized Ontario's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the COVID-19 lockdowns the province has put in place.

Richard Schabas called Ontario's lockdown response to COVID-19 "misguided", claiming that "Lockdown was never part of our planned pandemic response nor is it supported by strong science".

Richard Schabas voiced his support for Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament Roman Baber, who sent a letter to Premier of Ontario Doug Ford calling for the end of COVID-19 lockdowns.

In June 2022, Richard Schabas participated as a speaker in a retrospective seminar titled A Citizens' Hearing in Toronto, Ontario, evaluating the public health and government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.