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Nanci Hiebert, who is against vaccination, sits with her children at Lions Park in Aylmer, Ont. Aylmer, the town of about 7,500 southeast of London, Ont., has been the site of multiple anti-restrictions, anti-mask and anti-vaccine protests during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
Canada’s high overall COVID-19 vaccination rates are concealing pockets where less than half the population has received a first dose, most of them in small towns and rural, remote parts of the country, according to a Globe and Mail analysis of provincial vaccination data.
The low rates in places such as High Level, Alta., and the Rural Municipality of Stanley in southern Manitoba – both places where just 16 per cent of the total population have gotten first shots – are leaving residents vulnerable to the fast-spreading Delta variant as provincial governments lift restrictions.
The holdouts are also making it difficult for the country to fully vaccinate 80 per cent of people 12 and over, a threshold Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Theresa Tam, said on Friday would be necessary to avoid overwhelming hospitals in the case of a Delta-fuelled fourth wave.
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Canada vaccine tracker: How many COVID-19 doses have been administered so far?
As of Thursday, 66 per cent of eligible Canadians had received both jabs, or 58 per cent of the total population, which includes children who don’t yet qualify for a shot. And 81 per cent of eligible Canadians had received one dose, or 71 per cent of the total population. Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.
Jia Hu, a public-health physician in Calgary, said there is more reason to worry about communities where the majority isn’t inoculated against the coronavirus than there is about the odd unvaccinated person in a crowd of vaccinated people.
He likens it to measles: If a case turns up in an unvaccinated child in a highly vaccinated area, the super-contagious virus tends not to spread. If measles is introduced into an insular community that eschews vaccines, it spreads like wildfire.
“That’s why I’m a hell of a lot more worried now about rural areas than finishing the job in northeast Calgary or Brampton,” Dr. Hu said.
Canadians who have so far declined to get a shot tend to skew younger, but otherwise they don’t conform to a tidy profile.
Their misgivings range from a deep suspicion of government, to fears about short- and long-term side effects of the shot, to a belief that COVID-19 itself won’t hurt them. Some are swimming in a sea of misinformation on social media. Others are open to immunization, but can’t get time off work. Still others don’t have the technical savvy to book an online appointment or a car to drive to a vaccination centre.
A certain percentage won’t get inoculated against COVID-19 unless they have to, and most provinces have been reluctant to implement vaccine mandates. When Humber River Regional Hospital in Toronto, in partnership with online magazine The Local, surveyed 389 first-dose recipients at a mass vaccination centre in mid-July about what changed their minds, 35 per cent cited a workplace requirement. It was the top answer.
“That was an interesting finding that we hadn’t expected,” Sudha Kutty, Humber River’s vice-president of strategy and external relations, told The Globe.
Daily number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by province
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
Ontario
Quebec
Saskatchewan
0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 Jan. 2021 Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July 1907 3111 408 3641 2633 557 THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: provincial governments
data
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Row Labels Alberta British Columbia Manitoba Ontario Quebec Saskatchewan 2021-01-01 1907 3111 408 3641 2633 557 2021-01-02 2089 3111 314 3744 2187 484 2021-01-03 2089 3111 314 4394 1844 416 2021-01-04 2808 3990 253 5103 1672 371 2021-01-05 3295 4070 363 5696 1970 314 2021-01-06 3582 4910 453 6781 2551 264 2021-01-07 3794 5889 586 8820 3502 229 2021-01-08 3907 5750 681 9871 4997 365 2021-01-09 4182 5750 874 9428 6737 463 2021-01-10 3964 5750 867 10180 7946 580 2021-01-11 3419 7153 987 10455 8854 705 2021-01-12 3721 6817 1010 10805 9535 804 2021-01-13 4016 5953 1207 10545 9769 839 2021-01-14 4727 5736 1216 10208 9582 1022 2021-01-15 5203 5931 1211 10375 9210 1143 2021-01-16 5604 5931 1216 12261 8962 1423 2021-01-17 5849 5931 1347 12407 8901 1747 2021-01-18 6146 5489 2466 12526 8727 1953 2021-01-19 5714 6015 2466 12940 9220 2099 2021-01-20 5300 6939 3319 13305 9556 2405 2021-01-21 4222 7031 2869 13542 10072 2542 2021-01-22 3382 6930 3075 12908 10508 2465 2021-01-23 2464 6930 2803 12437 10342 2208 2021-01-24 1873 6930 2567 11497 10294 1840 2021-01-25 1377 6501 2000 10903 9597 1534 2021-01-26 1071 5998 1945 10240 8689 1358 2021-01-27 840 5248 1571 9630 7851 1055 2021-01-28 860 4471 1636 9060 6682 699 2021-01-29 935 3735 1639 8924 5061 545 2021-01-30 992 3735 1677 8669 3984 408 2021-01-31 1030 3735 1692 8439 2782 331 2021-02-01 985 3808 1724 7970 2615 299 2021-02-02 1089 3619 1615 6971 2279 214 2021-02-03 1174 3556 1422 6143 1761 164 2021-02-04 1409 3662 1245 5402 1567 265 2021-02-05 1391 4065 1113 5042 1802 517 2021-02-06 1566 3387 991 5120 2252 859 2021-02-07 1733 3387 928 5649 2618 991 2021-02-08 2001 2601 910 6324 2881 1077 2021-02-09 2412 2522 957 7717 3109 1278 2021-02-10 2873 2609 1034 9113 3578 1373 2021-02-11 3312 2387 1029 10254 4054 1391 2021-02-12 3760 2236 1081 11385 4563 1154 2021-02-13 3914 2684 1070 12040 5293 1045 2021-02-14 3922 2684 1112 12635 5342 1050 2021-02-15 3749 2122 1097 12736 5100 975 2021-02-16 3545 4043 953 11678 5014 760 2021-02-17 3229 4555 879 11052 4726 708 2021-02-18 2851 5201 921 10719 4255 600 2021-02-19 2862 7490 901 10913 4434 892 2021-02-20 3059 7490 871 11883 5482 1323 2021-02-21 3371 7490 909 12701 7279 1585 2021-02-22 3848 11149 928 13447 8430 1703 2021-02-23 4517 10520 1132 15047 9755 1786 2021-02-24 4931 10972 1381 16195 11034 1860 2021-02-25 5720 11838 1623 17156 12137 2139 2021-02-26 6697 11886 1785 17847 12698 2346 2021-02-27 7596 11886 1963 18282 12725 2525 2021-02-28 8320 11886 2003 18677 12479 2498 2021-03-01 8853 11391 2044 19320 12132 2508 2021-03-02 9186 11766 2034 20188 12764 2556 2021-03-03 9816 11787 1971 21653 13686 2607 2021-03-04 10094 11794 1931 23267 14775 2665 2021-03-05 9774 11767 1924 25278 15706 2490 2021-03-06 9140 11767 2010 27473 15992 2136 2021-03-07 8959 11767 2040 29048 16554 1951 2021-03-08 8883 11529 2037 29684 17927 1927 2021-03-09 8396 12040 2078 30930 17957 1897 2021-03-10 7668 13106 2088 32054 18160 1827 2021-03-11 7335 13588 2172 33511 18365 1684 2021-03-12 8237 13907 2129 34599 19741 1670 2021-03-13 9066 13907 2122 36583 21592 1391 2021-03-14 9656 13907 2197 38250 23921 1504 2021-03-15 10062 15155 2286 39867 25687 1664 2021-03-16 10866 16227 2446 42800 27653 2165 2021-03-17 12647 17760 2641 46077 29282 2625 2021-03-18 14441 19759 2898 48578 30487 3188 2021-03-19 15099 21856 3329 51098 31971 3271 2021-03-20 15222 21856 3732 52055 33452 5547 2021-03-21 14553 21856 4082 51907 32745 6235 2021-03-22 17053 26061 4200 51641 31780 6625 2021-03-23 16738 26598 4245 51510 31215 6757 2021-03-24 16394 27699 4751 53545 31415 6457 2021-03-25 16215 29017 4896 56592 33336 6260 2021-03-26 17099 29567 4894 59713 35643 6357 2021-03-27 17790 29567 4934 62207 37288 4862 2021-03-28 19267 29567 4976 65654 39727 4838 2021-03-29 17258 31937 5317 68385 42184 5090 2021-03-30 17566 33337 5527 71240 44677 5032 2021-03-31 17536 34689 5291 73729 46373 5917 2021-04-01 17263 35396 5527 74388 46547 6411 2021-04-02 15708 37448 5605 72954 45532 6578 2021-04-03 15157 37448 6828 84622 44525 6677 2021-04-04 14572 37448 7117 88556 43808 6758 2021-04-05 24795 48625 7308 102781 41480 6956 2021-04-06 28599 46966 7687 103892 40908 7173 2021-04-07 30209 47504 7713 106794 40998 6880 2021-04-08 31702 49338 8696 111694 41914 7336 2021-04-09 30293 47474 11470 110642 44867 7923 2021-04-10 29304 47474 11495 103481 48666 9108 2021-04-11 27803 47474 10720 102240 51562 9688 2021-04-12 22494 43702 10651 95546 56095 9913 2021-04-13 33696 47387 10633 98331 58987 10185 2021-04-14 35740 48947 11099 99536 62785 10463 2021-04-15 37384 50172 10581 99089 65840 10108 2021-04-16 46319 51414 8283 100553 67004 9613 2021-04-17 48844 51414 7920 100910 66914 9310 2021-04-18 49903 51414 8142 99734 66897 9009 2021-04-19 50047 53612 8183 98616 65008 8750 2021-04-20 37693 53130 8546 97861 63329 8383 2021-04-21 37522 53223 9224 101273 61157 8222 2021-04-22 38738 52913 10048 105485 63394 8133 2021-04-23 33921 51995 11496 108091 65162 8366 2021-04-24 34209 51995 12156 110865 66589 8319 2021-04-25 35946 51995 12588 112717 67104 7803 2021-04-26 36281 51042 12485 113062 67315 7316 2021-04-27 38908 51297 12408 113692 66927 7283 2021-04-28 37762 49693 11806 110760 66186 7252 2021-04-29 36183 49789 11176 108710 64261 7092 2021-04-30 34697 48931 10863 105616 60588 6515 2021-05-01 33757 48931 9963 102902 57732 6121 2021-05-02 31805 48931 9578 99638 55676 6275 2021-05-03 31588 48392 9452 97434 55037 6777 2021-05-04 28524 47807 9159 96584 55949 7474 2021-05-05 28203 47564 8999 98931 56909 7850 2021-05-06 29145 49224 8909 101856 58092 8418 2021-05-07 32800 51144 8615 106500 63838 9100 2021-05-08 35555 51144 9082 110847 67750 9906 2021-05-09 38248 51144 9446 117188 71409 10638 2021-05-10 39522 56355 9962 122933 75007 10919 2021-05-11 39793 61939 10583 126252 82279 9937 2021-05-12 40095 66818 11639 127420 79044 9476 2021-05-13 41019 68003 12293 126943 81241 9221 2021-05-14 42040 70165 12965 126520 82411 8850 2021-05-15 42532 70165 13046 128803 84087 9639 2021-05-16 42994 70165 13121 131447 86424 10403 2021-05-17 42927 73859 13202 134052 87294 10838 2021-05-18 42424 69416 12961 133614 83509 11174 2021-05-19 42373 69318 12460 134282 89212 11202 2021-05-20 41873 70369 12392 135323 88834 10682 2021-05-21 45049 70151 12658 137717 88489 11028 2021-05-22 45225 70151 12696 142864 87588 10490 2021-05-23 45274 70151 12667 142970 86573 9348 2021-05-24 44957 71418 12948 148077 86390 8533 2021-05-25 44050 72110 13483 160911 83232 8096 2021-05-26 43803 71209 13393 159219 81183 7770 2021-05-27 43275 69090 14492 159012 80779 8434 2021-05-28 38091 72450 14710 159221 79878 9006 2021-05-29 37119 72450 15235 152361 80321 8738 2021-05-30 36116 72450 15164 153112 82032 8746 2021-05-31 35612 72926 14832 145203 83692 8971 2021-06-01 36979 75169 14488 135797 85330 9394 2021-06-02 37600 77067 14585 136453 86885 10058 2021-06-03 38894 78803 13462 137472 86619 10794 2021-06-04 40480 76523 13485 138693 85766 10977 2021-06-05 41838 76523 13150 142105 85028 11512 2021-06-06 42562 76523 13516 144042 83210 11880 2021-06-07 43241 77136 13502 146768 83077 11965 2021-06-08 44580 76401 13991 152199 81677 12167 2021-06-09 45155 76894 14284 157571 82566 12629 2021-06-10 46734 79255 14471 162066 82436 12944 2021-06-11 46574 80939 13241 166585 84879 12884 2021-06-12 46185 80939 13798 169753 84900 13076 2021-06-13 46623 80939 13873 173756 87422 13249 2021-06-14 46947 82510 14192 176434 87447 13435 2021-06-15 51026 83513 14302 180260 92534 13457 2021-06-16 53653 83077 14696 183899 93953 13383 2021-06-17 53442 81750 15158 187937 95648 13185 2021-06-18 53830 80514 15387 189463 93942 14478 2021-06-19 54938 80514 14864 192064 95939 14724 2021-06-20 55950 80514 14736 191755 89673 14901 2021-06-21 55993 77617 15859 189333 87094 13620 2021-06-22 53400 81804 16871 191411 86341 13565 2021-06-23 52829 81002 17936 194888 88213 14480 2021-06-24 53454 84047 19242 196970 91115 15847 2021-06-25 52476 81480 21415 202078 86081 15380 2021-06-26 50111 81480 23219 208224 82343 15892 2021-06-27 49282 81480 24616 210856 87120 16781 2021-06-28 78753 90055 24675 219676 133426 18415 2021-06-29 82440 85974 25042 229062 137699 18718 2021-06-30 85929 86553 26476 234930 139400 18575 2021-07-01 92366 87707 26370 236554 144277 17841 2021-07-02 102723 105286 29365 264382 182574 17840 2021-07-03 102723 105286 28481 256756 182574 15707 2021-07-04 102723 105286 27923 255655 182574 14441 2021-07-05 95101 100484 27611 249726 176103 13929 2021-07-06 90823 99615 27329 241474 174143 13891 2021-07-07 85175 100283 24698 230840 173608 13362 2021-07-08 79017 97456 23649 236275 161909 12430 2021-07-09 68878 86866 19034 209347 142063 11244 2021-07-10 68878 86866 17801 208919 142063 12277 2021-07-11 68878 86866 16611 205271 142063 11831 2021-07-12 57945 86513 15024 201965 141889 11351 2021-07-13 53042 91636 12925 196410 139612 10504 2021-07-14 49367 92287 11942 192782 136883 9453 2021-07-15 43819 88942 11126 178113 134567 8663 2021-07-16 40691 87695 10955 170078 130429 8413 2021-07-17 40691 87695 10608 164592 130429 7528 2021-07-18 40691 87695 10334 159465 130429 6968 2021-07-19 37494 88967 10256 155132 123339 6575 2021-07-20 36745 85582 10483 148865 122354 6606 2021-07-21 35939 84871 9850 143335 123953 6471 2021-07-22 36258 83880 9615 137473 124263 6399 2021-07-23 35425 83536 8715 130561 123187 6011 2021-07-24 35425 83536 8908 124155 123187 5644 2021-07-25 35425 83536 9291 119749 123187 5403 2021-07-26 33063 83644 9622 116121 121693 5380
Daily number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by province download csv
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Vaccination rates in select provinces
as a share of total population
Percentage of population who received
at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
As of July 27*
50%
60%
70%
*Ontario’s data are as of July 18.
ALBERTA
Alberta Health Services
Local Geographic Areas
High Level
16%
Fort
McMurray
Peace River
Edmonton
Calgary
SASKATCHEWAN
Regional Health
Authorities Districts
Saskatoon
Regina
MANITOBA
Regional Health
Authorities Districts
Churchill
Thompson
Stanley
16.1%
Winnipeg
Brandon
ONTARIO
Areas based on the first three characters of a postal code
Timmins
Thunder Bay
North Bay
Ottawa
Toronto
Aylmer
44.6%
CHEN WANG AND MURAT YüKSELIR, THE GLOBE
AND MAIL, SOURCE: PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS
Vaccination rates in select provinces
as a share of total population
Percentage of population who received
at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
As of July 27*
50%
60%
70%
*Ontario’s data are as of July 18.
ALBERTA
Alberta Health Services
Local Geographic Areas
High Level
16%
Fort
McMurray
Peace River
Edmonton
Calgary
SASKATCHEWAN
Regional Health
Authorities Districts
Saskatoon
Regina
MANITOBA
Regional Health
Authorities Districts
Churchill
Thompson
Stanley
16.1%
Winnipeg
Brandon
ONTARIO
Areas based on the first three characters of a postal code
Timmins
Thunder Bay
North Bay
Ottawa
Aylmer
44.6%
Toronto
CHEN WANG AND MURAT YüKSELIR, THE GLOBE
AND MAIL, SOURCE: PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS
Vaccination rates in select provinces as a share of total population
Percentage of population who received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
As of July 27*
50%
60%
70%
*Ontario’s data are as of July 18.
ALBERTA
Alberta Health Services
Local Geographic Areas
High Level
16%
Fort
McMurray
Peace River
Edmonton
Calgary
SASKATCHEWAN
Regional Health
Authorities Districts
Saskatoon
Regina
MANITOBA
Regional Health
Authorities Districts
Churchill
Thompson
Stanley
16.1%
Winnipeg
Brandon
ONTARIO
Areas based on the first three characters of a postal code
Timmins
Thunder Bay
North Bay
Ottawa
Toronto
CHEN WANG AND MURAT YüKSELIR,
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE:
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS
Aylmer
44.6%
No matter their reasons, stragglers are inherently harder to vaccinate than eager beavers, according to Phillip Anthony, manager of the East Toronto mobile vaccination strategy at Michael Garron Hospital. That explains why the number of shots Canada injects daily has fallen off a cliff, from a high of 552,900 (on a seven-day rolling average) on July 8 to an average of 288,512 a day last week.
“Now you have to be very mobile,” Mr. Anthony said. “You have to go get people.”
True as that may be, not everyone is gettable.
Open this photo in gallery
Together, Aylmer and its neighbouring farmland they make up the least-vaccinated postal codes in Ontario, those beginning with N5H.
Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
Nanci Hiebert, for example, says that when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines, she will “strictly be a ‘No’ – forever.”
Sitting on a towel at a splashpad in Aylmer, Ont., a town of 7,500 south of London, the 30-year-old mother of three described her opposition as flowing from a mix of personal experience, independent research and a deep-seated desire for freedom.
“I feel like it’s our God-given right to say ‘No’ to something,” she said. “I feel like naturally our bodies are capable of fighting a lot off.”
Her friend Kristi-ann Wall, another 30-year-old mother born and raised in Aylmer, was less certain, but no more vaccinated. “It’s not like, ‘No, I’m never going to get the COVID vaccine,’ ” she said. “It’s that I don’t feel comfortable being pretty much a test dummy to see where it goes.”
Although Ms. Hiebert’s firmer stance has caused a rift with some of her relatives, it is not an uncommon one among younger adults in Aylmer and the rural township that surrounds it.
Aylmer is the base of an anti-lockdown preacher, Henry Hildebrandt, who said in a speech at the end of June that he and his Church of God, which serves Mennonites, have racked up $273,500 in fines for flouting Ontario’s pandemic laws. A mailing address for Vaccine Choice Canada, a group that has been fighting compulsory vaccination since the 1980s, is located inside Aylmer’s old Imperial Tobacco plant. One of the group’s founders, who lives nearby, spoke at a “freedom” rally last November that drew 2,000 people to Aylmer.
Proportion of total population not vaccinated,
by age group and region
As of July 24, 2021
0–11
12–29
30–49
50–69
70+
0
10
20
30
40
50%
N.L.
PEI
N.S.
N.B.
Que.
Ont.
Man.
Sask.
Alta.
B.C.
Yukon
NWT
Nunavut
Note: Children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible
for COVID-19 vaccines in Canada.
CHEN WANG AND MURAT YüKSELIR /
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE:
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA
Proportion of total population not vaccinated,
by age group and region
As of July 24, 2021
0–11
12–29
30–49
50–69
70+
0
10
20
30
40
50%
N.L.
PEI
N.S.
N.B.
Que.
Ont.
Man.
Sask.
Alta.
B.C.
Yukon
NWT
Nunavut
Note: Children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible for
COVID-19 vaccines in Canada.
CHEN WANG AND MURAT YüKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL,
SOURCE: GOVERNMENT OF CANADA
Proportion of total population not vaccinated, by age group and region
As of July 24, 2021
0–11
12–29
30–49
50–69
70+
0
10
20
30
40
50%
N.L.
PEI
N.S.
N.B.
Que.
Ont.
Man.
Sask.
Alta.
B.C.
Yukon
NWT
Nunavut
Note: Children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in Canada.
CHEN WANG AND MURAT YüKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE:
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA
All this has contributed to a dubious distinction for Aylmer and its neighbouring farmland: Together, they make up the least-vaccinated postal codes in Ontario, those beginning with N5H. Only 44.57 per cent of people in N5H had received a first dose as of July 18, according to data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, a non-profit health research group.
“I don’t think that we’re ever going to get through COVID because people are not being vaccinated,” said Lise Jones, a 68-year-old retiree who spent 34 years working in nursing homes. “COVID is never going away.”
Ms. Jones was among the seniors sipping beer out of plastic Bud Light cups at the Aylmer Legion this week. Like most seniors in N5H, she’s fully vaccinated against COVID-19. She regards her vaccination receipt as a badge of honour. She keeps a laminated copy in her car’s glove compartment.
Open this photo in gallery
All of Aylmer’s age groups younger than 30 have first-dose rates below 40 per cent.
Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
There is a stark generational divide in the vaccination rates in N5H. About 80 per cent of those over 75 have received a first dose, only a few percentage points short of the provincial average for that age group.
All of Aylmer’s age groups younger than 30 have first-dose rates below 40 per cent; those aged 12 to 15 have a first-dose coverage rate of 22.81 per cent, by far the lowest in Ontario.
Joyce Lock, the Medical Officer of Health for Southwestern Ontario, said that despite a slow start, the Aylmer area’s vaccination rates are increasing. The public-health unit is reaching out to vaccine-hesitant groups through family doctors, WhatsApp channels and pamphlets in Low German and Spanish, the languages spoken by most of the region’s Mennonites and migrant farm workers respectively.
“Health beliefs in themselves are complex,” Dr. Lock said. They are shaped by history, culture, religion and past experience with health care systems, she added. Getting at the roots of vaccine hesitancy takes patience and time.
Stanley Vollant, an Innu physician who has worked on vaccine outreach efforts in northern Quebec, echoed that. The Nunavik region of Quebec, where 14 fly-in Inuit communities hug the coastline from Hudson Bay to Ungava Bay, is in last place for vaccination in the province.
Only 43.8 per cent of the total population has received a first dose, 30 percentage points lower than Quebec’s provincial average. That rises to 61-per-cent first-dose coverage among people aged 12 and older, still 23 percentage points lower than the provincial average.
Dr. Vollant said the Inuit people in the coastal regions have a deep distrust of southern medicine, in part because of a long history of mistreatment and the extraordinary isolation they experience when they travel south for care. “Many people believe vaccination is the way white people want to control us,” he said. “It takes time to counter that misinformation.”
Nunavik has a big generation gap when it comes to vaccination. Provincial statistics say 100 per cent of people over 60 have been vaccinated, compared to 29 per cent of people aged 12 to 17 and 50.6 per cent of those 18 to 29.
In northwestern Alberta, vaccination rates are also considerably lower than the rest of the province, which already has among the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
Just 22 per cent of eligible people in the High Level area have received at least one dose of the vaccine, or just 15.8 per cent of the overall population. That low uptake even extends to seniors, with only 30 per cent of people over 75 receiving at least one dose.
The High Level health area includes not just High Level, a town of about 3,000 people, but also a number of smaller communities, a number of First Nations reserves and a huge swath of rural land that altogether have a population of roughly 24,000 people.
When members of the congregation at the High Level Christian Fellowship ask Pastor Norman Bueckert about the vaccines, he says he’s careful not to offer any advice. He estimates that just under half of the church is vaccinated against the virus and he’s careful not to tell people what they should do.
He hasn’t received a COVID-19 shot. “I’m not an anti-vaxxer, because I have all the other vaccines,” he said in an interview. “I’m personally not ready yet and don’t trust the vaccines.”
Mr. Bueckert said people in his church believe COVID-19 is real. Some have gotten sick and there are people in the community who have ended up in intensive care
But he said there has been so much conflicting information floating around about vaccines that people just don’t trust public-health officials insisting the vaccine is safe. The provincial government’s decision to fence off a handful of churches and jail pastors who refused to abide by pandemic capacity limits has only bred more suspicion, he added.
In British Columbia, health officials have pointed to lower-than-average vaccine rates in some areas to explain recent increases in infections and the province is attempting to boost those numbers with mobile vaccine clinics and other programs. But still, even the lowest vaccinated places in B.C. are above 50 per cent of the eligible population for at least one dose and slowly increasing.
The largest spikes in cases are happening in the Central Okanagan region, where mask mandates have returned, but those areas have relatively high vaccine rates of 75 per cent among those 12 and older. (B.C. doesn’t publish coverage estimates for the total population.)
The lowest vaccination rates in B.C. are in the northeastern part of the province, just across the provincial boundary from the High Level area of Alberta.
In Winkler, Man., someone sent Mayor Martin Harder a text message recently warning him that he would be dead in two years. The idea that the vaccines are a ticking time bomb that will kill recipients in the coming months or years is a common conspiracy theory among the anti-vaccine fringe.
Mr. Harder has been public about the fact that he has been vaccinated, and he said it’s not unusual for him to get 10 abusive text messages, online messages or calls a day attacking him for his support for vaccines or other public-health measures. He blames misinformation, easily accessible online, for turning the COVID-19 vaccine into a divisive issue for his town and even for his own family.
“The further we go, the more entrenched they become,” he said. “We have a very hard-working community and a very caring community and the fact that this has been so divisive is very, very hard to swallow.”
About 30 per cent of total population in Winkler has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine – well below the 69-per-cent average across the province. The rate for the Rural Municipality of Stanley, which surrounds Winkler and extends south to the U.S. border, is even lower at 16 per cent.
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Melissa Nadeau prepares before administering a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a COVID-19 immunization clinic, hosted by East Toronto Health Partners, at Shoppers World Danforth in Toronto, on July 28, 2021.
Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
Overall vaccination figures from Canada’s urban centres, which are generally high, can also disguise pockets with lower vaccination rates.
In Toronto, the municipal government, hospitals and a slew of community ambassadors led by hyperlocal social-service agencies have made a Herculean effort to vaccinate people in such neighbourhoods, which are often poor and racialized.
The lessons they’ve learned – including making vaccination as convenient as possible and leaving outreach to trusted locals who share the language and faith of the target audience – could apply in rural parts of Canada as well.
A prime example is the immunization blitz taking place during the August long weekend in the high-rise neighbourhood of Taylor-Massey, a landing pad for new immigrants located on the boundary of Scarborough and the old city of Toronto. Known to locals as Crescent Town, the area had a first-dose vaccination rate of 53.4 per of the total population, among the lowest rates in a city where just over 71 per cent of residents have received a first shot.
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Zuner Unia stands outside the convenience store where he works on July 28, 2021. Mr. Unia was overdue for his second shot, but unable to leave his post, so a nurse from the nearby immunization clinic at Shoppers World Danforth came and injected him inside the store.
Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
During the August long weekend, a “home stretch” vaccine push in Taylor-Massey featured microtargeted pop-up clinics in nine locations, including two grocery stores, a local elementary school and the Shoppers World Danforth plaza.
The Shoppers World location, overseen by Michael Garron Hospital, was already up and running last week inside a former GNC vitamin store sandwiched between a laundromat and an LA Fitness.
Every day, Karen King, a volunteer screener at the clinic, roamed from store to store, encouraging cashiers at the Dollarama and the Subway sandwich shop to pop in for a jab.
When she discovered that Mini Variety worker Zuner Unia, 43, was overdue for his second shot but unable to leave his post, she arranged for a nurse to inject him inside the convenience store on Tuesday. “It was a no-brainer,” Ms. King said. “We were just trying to help him out because he wanted it.”
Alice Gillis, 65, stumbled on the clinic and walked in for a second shot of Pfizer after doing her banking at the plaza. She received her first dose of Pfizer three months earlier, but turned down a second-dose appointment offering Moderna because she didn’t want to mix vaccine brands. “I put it off and put it off,” Ms. Gillis said from her red wheelchair scooter. “But if I don’t get it, I can’t go anywhere. I want to go home to Nova Scotia.”
Convenience is an often-overlooked way to combat vaccine complacency, said Laura Desveaux, a behavioural scientist at Mississauga’s Trillium Health Partners hospital network. “It’s actually not about convincing people,” she said. “It’s about making it as easy as possible to get vaccinated.”
The vast majority of people who trickled into the Shoppers World site on Wednesday were there for second doses, which provide crucial protection against the Delta variant.
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Camille Rojas with her mother, Martha, who just received her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
Martha Rojas was a rare first-dose candidate. The 61-year-old, who had been eligible since the spring, was terrified at the thought of having debilitating side effects or a dangerous allergic reaction. Her daughter, Camille Rojas, 27, rubbed her back and urged her mother to say ‘Yes’ as they spoke to a worker outside the clinic.
The elder Ms. Rojas wasn’t ready. “Do you want to take a walk, Mommy?” said Camille, who was already double-vaccinated.
Twenty minutes later, the pair returned and asked to speak with the physician on site, Nicole Kim.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Dr. Kim said. “That’s a big step.” Dr. Kim answered her questions about side effects and allergies and told the Rojas’s about the severely ill COVID-19 patients she had cared for in hospital. “Anything is better than getting COVID, right?” she said.
Continuing to rub her mother’s shoulder, Camille added, “I think you should get it. You’ll be fine, Mommy. I’m here. The doctors are here. It’s going to be okay.”
At last, Ms. Rojas agreed. Afterward, she said her daughter had been a role model, helping her to overcome her fear of getting vaccinated. “She’s been so brave.”
With reports from Chen Wang, Les Perreaux and Marieke Walsh
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