Early Toronto data reveals inequities in vaccine uptake among children
It’s a picture of the Toronto map the city has seen before with adults: Higher vaccination rates in some wealthier neighbourhoods and in the core, compared to some lower income areas with lower rates, especially in the northwest and east.
Leaside and Forest Hill are among the top places where kids five to 11 years old have been vaccinated. Meanwhile, Beechborough-Greenbrook, near Eglinton Avenue West and Keele Street has one of the lowest rates with just 8.9 per cent.
Using data provided by Toronto Public Health, the local, a non-profit magazine created the map and discovered in the top five neighbourhoods uptake was around 65 per cent compared to 11 per cent.
It found more school cases and outbreaks are happening in the same spots as lower immunization.
“You would think those would be the areas where we should be targeting vaccination as much as possible to offer that protection, but that’s really not the case,” said Editor-in-chief of The Local Tai Huynh.
They hope the information it found can reduce inequities and be used to improve children’s access to the vaccine.
Toronto Public Health said the early data should be interpreted with caution as school-based clinics began last week and the campaign for this group started two weeks ago.
It says more data with a longer time frame will better inform efforts. In some areas, like Taylor Massey, where there was a focus had an uptake of 25 per cent.
Barriers to the vaccine can include language, transportation and misinformation said paediatric infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anna banerji.
“You try and make it as easy as possible so the people on the people sitting on the fence, the people who say it’s too much trouble, if you make it easy a lot of people will get vaccinated,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.