Pop-up 'vaccine rodeo' aims to combat disparities in northeast Calgary

Pop-up "Vaccine Rodeo" Tackles COVID-19 Inequity in Northeast Calgary
Calgary Herald, June 2, 2021

Alberta's first walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinic opened at Village Square Leisure Centre in northeast Calgary, offering 5,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on a drop-in basis over a single weekend. Dubbed the "vaccine rodeo," the initiative was designed to close the vaccination gap between Calgary's northeast and southeast communities and the rest of the city, where uptake lagged at 49 to 52 per cent compared to 64 per cent provincially.

Organized by the Centre for Newcomers, Immigrant Services Calgary, and the Mosaic Primary Care Network, the clinic tackled access barriers head-on. Posters were translated into 72 languages and international medical graduates were on-site to answer questions in patients' first languages. Organizers were clear that hesitancy was not the primary issue. The real barriers were shift work schedules, transportation, language, and limited access to technology for booking appointments.

The initiative reflects a core principle in migrant health equity: removing structural barriers rather than assuming reluctance. As Anila Lee Yuen of the Centre for Newcomers put it, "this is not special treatment, this is all about equity."

Read the full article on the Calgary Herald.