TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada is moving its vaccination campaign to target front-line workers, moving away from a largely age-based development as the country tries to cope with the third wave of the pandemic.
Canada’s approach so far has left many so-called “essential workers” unvaccinated, such as childcare providers, bus drivers and meat packers, all of whom are at higher risk of transmitting COVID-19. The provinces are now trying to adapt their strategy to cope with the growth caused by the new variants.
Targeting front-line workers and addressing occupational risk are vital if Canada wants to control its third wave, says Simon Fraser University mathematician and epidemiologist Caroline Colijn, who modeled Canadian immunization strategies and found “as soon as you put in essential workers.” [in the vaccine rollout plan], all the better.”
Canada initially gave priority to residents and long-term care staff for vaccines, as well as the elderly, health care workers, residents of remote communities and indigenous peoples.
Targeting vaccinations by age made sense in time in a pandemic that devastated Canada’s long-term care homes, Colijn said. But now, immunizing those with the highest risk of transmission brings the greatest benefit.
“If you protect these people, you also protect someone in their 60s, whose only risk is when they go to the store. … The options are here now. So, if we turn now, but we need two months to do it, then we will lose that race “.
Data released Tuesday by the Institute of Clinical and Evaluative Sciences showed that neighborhoods in Toronto with the highest rates of COVID-19 infections have the lowest vaccination rates, highlighting differences in vaccination.
“IT’S A TOY”
On Wednesday, Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford announced a plan for mobile vaccination clinics to target COVID-19 “hot spots” and high-risk construction sites, although he no longer gave people free time to get shot.
Karim Kurji, a medical officer in the York region of northern Toronto, characterizes the shift from vaccination priority from age to risk of transmission as moving from defense to crime.
“It’s a problem with immunization machines and it takes a lot of effort to turn it around,” Kurji said.
Meanwhile, officials in the western province of Alberta say they are delivering vaccines to more than 2,000 workers at the Cargill meat packaging plant in the High River, home to one of Canada’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks. Provincial officials said in a statement that they want to expand the pilot to other plants.
Quebec will begin vaccinating key workers, such as those in education, child care and public safety in Montreal, where the neighborhoods with the highest vaccination rates were among those with the lowest infection rates on record.
People at the highest risk, from an infectious disease perspective, are more likely to be poor, non-white and new Canadians, health experts say. They are less likely to have paid leave to be tested or vaccinated or to stay home when they are sick and more likely to live in crowded or multi-unit homes. They need to be a priority for vaccination and address their vaccination barriers, experts say.
Naheed Dosani, a Toronto palliative care physician and health justice activist, said making vaccines available to high-risk communities is not enough without addressing barriers to access.
“The face of COVID-19 and those affected has changed dramatically. Variants seem to catch on in the communities where essential workers live. … This one [pivot] it is a step in the right direction and we hope it will save lives. ”
Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Denny Thomas and Aurora Ellis