Alberta's immunization plan needs to bring vaccine to communities facing barriers, doctors say

Alberta's Immunization Plan Needs to Bring Vaccines to Communities Facing Barriers, Doctors Say
CBC News, May 18, 2021

Alberta physicians and nurses called on the provincial government to shift its COVID-19 vaccination strategy toward community-based and pop-up clinics in high-risk, low-uptake areas. Among them was Dr. Gabriel Fabreau, internal medicine specialist at Calgary's Peter Lougheed Centre and assistant professor at the University of Calgary's O'Brien Institute for Public Health, who was among the first to propose this approach.

Dr. Fabreau and colleagues submitted a formal proposal to the province one week prior, drawing on lessons learned from co-leading pop-up vaccination clinics at Alberta meat-packing plants. The proposal received no government response. "I think that we are failing," he said, expressing frustration at the missed opportunity to run a more equitable, science-based rollout that prioritized the most vulnerable.

The communities most affected were identified as newcomer, low-income, and essential worker populations with multiple barriers to vaccination including navigating online booking systems, language access, and the inability to work from home. An Alberta Health Services Scientific Advisory Group report supported the approach, citing modelling showing that directing vaccines to high-transmission areas could prevent an additional 10 to 15 per cent of hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths.

Read the full article on CBC News.