TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada shifts its vaccination campaign to frontline workers, moving away from a largely age-based rollout as the country tries to come to grips with the raging third wave of the pandemic.
Canada’s approach to date has left many so-called “essential workers”, such as daycare providers, bus drivers and meat packers, unvaccinated, all of whom are among those at higher risk of COVID-19 transmission. Provinces are now trying to adjust their strategy to cope with the wave of new variants.
Tackling frontline workers and addressing occupational risks are vital if Canada is to get its third wave under control, says Simon Fraser University mathematician and epidemiologist Caroline Colijn, who modeled and discovered Canadian immunization strategies: [in the vaccine rollout plan], all the better.”
Initially, Canada prioritized long-term residents and staff for the vaccines, as well as the very elderly, health workers, residents of remote communities and indigenous peoples.
Targeting vaccinations by age made sense early on in a pandemic devastating long-term care facilities in Canada, Colijn said. But now immunization of those at greatest risk of transmission is of the greatest benefit.
“If you protect these individuals, you also protect someone in their 60s whose only risk is when they go to the store. … The variants are here now. So if we run now, but it takes us two months to do it, we lose that race. “
Data released Tuesday by the Institute of Clinical and Evaluative Sciences showed that the Toronto neighborhoods with the highest rates of COVID-19 infections had the lowest vaccination rates, underscoring the differences in vaccination rates.
‘IT’S A JUGGERNAUT’
On Wednesday, Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford announced a plan to target mobile vaccine clinics at COVID-19 “hotspots” and high-risk workplaces, although he did not give people paid time off to get the injection.
Karim Kurji, medical officer of health in the York area north of Toronto, characterizes the shift in vaccination priority from age to transmission risk as a shift from defense to insult.
“It’s a juggernaut in terms of the immunization equipment, and turning it around takes a lot of effort,” said Kurji.
Meanwhile, officials in the western province of Alberta say they are offering vaccines to more than 2,000 employees at Cargill’s meat packing plant in High River, the site of one of Canada’s largest COVID-19 workplace outbreaks. Provincial officials said in a statement that they want to expand the pilot to other factories.
Quebec will begin to vaccinate essential workers, such as those in education, childcare and public safety in Montreal, where neighborhoods with the highest vaccination rates are among the neighborhoods with the lowest recorded infection rates.
The people doing the most risky jobs, from an infectious disease standpoint, are likely to be poor, non-white and new Canadians, health experts say. They are less likely to take paid leave to get tested or vaccinated or stay at home when sick, and are more likely to live in crowded or multi-unit homes. They need to be prioritized for vaccination and their vaccination barriers addressed, experts say.
Naheed Dosani, a palliative care physician in Toronto and health law activist, said making vaccines available to at-risk communities is not enough without addressing barriers to entry.
“The face of COVID-19 and who was affected changed dramatically. The variants seemed to be catching on in communities where essential workers live. … This [pivot] is a step in the right direction and will hopefully save lives. “
Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Adaptation by Denny Thomas and Aurora Ellis