VANCOUVER -- It's been months since in-person concerts have been allowed in B.C. amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with artists being forced to postpone scheduled tours several times in some cases.

But when the Canadian artist The Weeknd announced his latest tour dates, which include a stop in Vancouver next January, some were left wondering if that's too soon.

"If the expectation is that it will be a standing-only crowd at an indoor venue for several hours, that's completely unrealistic," Dr. Brian Conway from the Vancouver Infectious Disease Centre told CTV News Vancouver.

Conway said even if scheduled vaccinations go according to plan in the province, a large concert isn't guaranteed.

"Assuming that we meet the standards for community-based immunity where 75 per cent of the population has been vaccinated, it could be that of 18,000 people as many as 4,500 would not even be vaccinated," he said.

"And for those that are vaccinated, for five to 10 per cent of those the vaccine won't have worked."

The latest tour dates were announced on Wednesday, after the artist's shows were originally postponed from 2020 to this year.

The Weeknd certainly isn't the only artist postponing shows, but some still have concerts scheduled for 2021.

According to Live Nation and Maroon 5's website, that band is currently still planning to play its show at Rogers Arena postponed in 2020 on July 31.

Celine Dion is also still scheduled to hit the stage in Vancouver this summer after postponing her tour last year.

And Dave Matthews Band, which was originally set to perform at Rogers Arena last fall, is still booked for a show this September.

"Whichever show is going to be the first couple shows, they're going to be off the chain, meaning it's going to be phenomenal because people want to get out," Kingsley Bailey, a ticket broker in Vancouver, told CTV News.

"People are so boxed in. They want to do something and these concerts could be it."

For now, all social gatherings outside households are banned, with few exceptions for those who live alone. A ban on gatherings of more than 50 people was first established in B.C. on March 16 and hasn't been lifted since, even when the province entered its restart plan over the summer.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Emad Agahi