💉📊 My colleagues @ashleyokwuosa, @joshxsherman, @NickFDunne, @charneland, @marshamcleod_ and I wrote about the least-vaccinated areas in each of our coverage areas. The result is a pan-Ontario look at why some people aren't getting their shots. tvo.org/article/callin… [1/7]
In #HamOnt, I looked at L8L, where 48.09 per cent of people have gotten two shots according to ICES data. Hamilton has 334 cases per million people — one of the highest rates in Ontario — as well as one of the lowest vaccination rates. [2/7] 
All but one of L8L's neighbouring FSAs — L8R, L8N, L8M and L8H — had coverage rates below 55 per cent, as of Friday. Those are in Hamilton's lower city, which tends to be more racialized and less affluent. Health outcomes tend to be poorer there (tvo.org/article/inequa…). [3/7]
“Whether we’re talking about income, access to housing, or racialized groups, all of those things are playing out in the areas that have our lowest vaccine coverage,” explains Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton’s MOH. These factors lead to problems of access. [4/7]
Richardson says histories of discrimination in the health-care system may lead some marginalized people to feel uncomfortable in clinics run by people who aren’t from the same background; that’s why public health introduced a vaccine-ambassador program. [5/7]
Clinics have also been inaccessible due to location or hours, some say. “I know for a number of working families, the availability of walk-in clinics in the evening is an essential game-changer,” says @NrinderWard3, who's been doing outreach in L8L.
https://twitter.com/NrinderWard3/status/1423750317485740032[6/7]
Both Nann and Richardson say it’s important not to stigmatize neighbourhoods with low vaccination rates. Richardson says we need to understand/address social determinants of health, and Nann says it's crucial to ask people what they need. [7/7]
tvo.org/article/callin…
tvo.org/article/callin…
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