Concern rises on high-risk communities’ low vaccine uptake

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This article was published 30/04/2021 (1372 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some Winnipeg communities at high risk of COVID-19 infection are experiencing slower uptake of vaccines, provincial data show.

It’s a trend, neighbourhood health experts say, urgently requires local vaccination clinics and grassroots engagement to reverse.

Five Winnipeg neighbourhoods have been flagged as having low vaccine uptake, at about 20 per cent of the adult population or less, according to data released Wednesday by the Manitoba government: Point Douglas South (17.3 per cent uptake), Point Douglas North (22 per cent), River East South (20.9 per cent), Inkster East (21.7 per cent), and Downtown East (23.2 per cent).

Dr. Barry Lavallee, chief executive officer of Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin, was immunizing Point Douglas residents at a new vaccination clinic at the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre (181 Higgins Ave.) Thursday.

Lavallee, also a member of the Manitoba First Nations COVID-19 Pandemic Response Co-ordination Team, said the clinic opened Thursday as part of a systemic response to the pandemic focused on the needs of Indigenous people and those who access the centre.

“There are Indigenous people who don’t trust the system, and for good reason,” Lavallee said, referencing racism and violence in the health system in the treatment of Winnipeg man Brian Sinclair and Quebec woman Joyce Echaquan.

“So when our community comes here, if they don’t see us, they can’t hear us. Then they’re going to have hesitations.”

According to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s most recent community area profile of Point Douglas, 29 per cent of residents are Indigenous; in the southern part of the district, 44 per cent are Indigenous. Meanwhile, 35 per cent of residents identify as a visible minority; 32 per cent are single-parent households.

With the exception of River East South, all of the communities have been designated by the province as hot spots for viral spread and adult residents have been granted early access to vaccines over the past week.

Point Douglas North was added to the list Wednesday, making about 20,711 residents eligible for immunization since April 23. So far, 7,343 vaccine doses had been administered in the community, or about 54 per cent of the eligible population over 50 years old.

At the clinic, Lavallee said people can receive vaccine information in Cree, Ojibwa and Oji-Cree, and there are staff who speak Indigenous languages. Child-minding is offered to those who need it, and the clinic accepts walk-ins.

“When they see people getting the vaccine, there’s more comfort. When they see our own people doing it, administering it, it brings a level of comfort that this isn’t some conspiracy about the vaccine,” he said.

Disinformation is fuelling vaccine hesitancy, Lavallee said, adding he and other clinic staff often have to dispel myths.

“I’m talking with people about that all the time, you know, that the vaccine is a medicine for us,” he said.

On the first day of the clinic, Lavallee said, based on demand so far, he expects uptake to continue to climb.

“People are talking about it a lot, I think it’s going to get better. People are just afraid. So once it’s rolling out, people will gain confidence,” the doctor said. “I’m not concerned.”

West of Winnipeg’s core, in the Inkster East health district, 2,743 people had received their first shot of vaccine, out of 12,643 adults.

Adult residents of the health district were granted early access to vaccines April 23.

NorWest Co-op Community Health Centre community development co-ordinator Michelle Kirkbride said while vaccine hesitancy does factor in to slower uptake, transportation, child care and getting time off work are more substantial barriers.

“Getting downtown to the super site, for some community members, can involve three buses, and during COVID times that can be even more frightening than normal,” Kirkbride said.

“The other issue with access is even if they do have access to a car, if we have large families that can be a challenge for child care, especially right now with restrictions.”

The Winnipeg health authority estimates 26 per cent of residents in Inkster East are Indigenous, and 45.8 per cent are a visible minority. Another 32 per cent are single-parent households.

Kirkbride said the co-op has offered information sessions and materials in multiple languages, and is looking at ways to facilitate transportation to mass clinics.

If an immunization clinic were to open in the community, increased uptake would quickly follow, Kirkbride said. Demand for the AstraZeneca vaccine through the co-op’s clinic has been great so far, she noted.

The clinic set to open in the Garden City area next week is no more accessible than the clinic at the downtown convention centre for most residents, she said.

A pop-up clinic staged earlier this month at Keewatin Street and Notre Dame Avenue was not widely advertised in the community, Kirkbride said.

— with files from Cody Sellar

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca