Targeted efforts seek to boost coronavirus vaccination in high-risk neighbourhoods
Providing tailored messages about the COVID-19 vaccine to priority communities in Waterloo Region is key to immunizing as many people as possible.
“Different communities face different barriers,” said Fauzia Baig, equity and anti-racism adviser for the region. “We want to make sure everybody has the right information and they feel comfortable with the decision they’re making.”
For the community engagement working group, that starts with listening to community leaders and members about what they needed and involve them in the planning.
“The intent has been to work with the community and not do for them,” Baig said. “The biggest thing we’re realizing is to listen.”
Equitable distribution is a focus of the region’s vaccine distribution task force. Consulting with individual communities is needed to get insight into the challenges they face to accessing vaccinations, and how to remove them.
Resources have been developed and translated for various groups, and town halls are also being hosted. This past weekend, there was one for the African, Caribbean and Black community that included members of Toronto’s Black Scientists’ Task Force on Vaccine Equity.
“We want people to see themselves reflected in this information,” Baig said. “It’s not the traditional one-size-fits-all.”
Information and services aim to be culturally appropriate, such as Indigenous vaccination clinics. Baig said there’s a responsibility when providing services to take the extra step to ensure every resident has access and is getting what they need to thrive.
That’s where enlisting community leaders comes in, and Baig thanked them for stepping up to help spread valid information about COVID-19 vaccines and their safety.
“It goes back to who do people trust,” Baig asked. “Often people trust leaders in their community. They know they have their best interest in their heart.”
High-priority neighbourhoods faced additional barriers to good health before the pandemic, and those existing social determinants mean they’ve also been harder hit by COVID-19 than other areas of the region. The goal now is to avoid perpetuating those inequities in the vaccine rollout, Baig said.
Five high-risk neighbourhoods were recently identified by the province and region: Vanier/Rockway, Country Hills, Alpine/Laurentian, Victoria Hills/Cherry Hill in Kitchener, and Shades Mills in Cambridge.
People 50 and older living there can register to get vaccinated, and pop-up vaccination clinics are being planned for those 18 and older in the highest risk neighbourhoods.
“We do know that there are groups that traditionally have greater vaccine hesitancy and they’re the groups that are usually those at greatest risk,” medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang told regional council on Tuesday.
She said that includes racialized and marginalized communities, and the vaccine rollout includes initiatives like the work being done by Baig to increase uptake in those groups.
The region will monitor progress with provincial data about vaccination rates in different postal codes. If targets aren’t being reached, Wang said, “it means we have to increase our efforts or try different things.”
Baig applauds the ongoing efforts.
“I think there’s always more to do and I think the region’s taken a really good approach,” she said.
“We are continuously asking what more can we do.”
She’s hopeful this collaborative approach that has the region and communities working together will continue beyond this crisis to help marginalized residents.
“Often they’re disproportionately impacted with poorer health outcomes.”