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One of the trickiest things about public policy is you need to be sure you are solving the right problem. The roll-out of mobile vaccination clinics in priority postal codes is a FASCINATING case study....1/n
We know that vaccination rates are over 21% in wealthy Toronto neighbourhoods with low hospitalization and death rates and as low as 5% in low-income high-case load neighbourhoods where 'essential workers' are continuing to be exposed and bring COVID home. https://thelocal.to/the-vaccine-rollout-is-leaving-torontos-hardest-hit-postal-codes-behind/
We're hearing from community organizers in hard-hit neighbourhoods that barriers incl lack of home internet/device access& digital lit, English fluency, transportation (e.g., no car, still-crowded transit corridors), paid sick days, post-vaccine care etc. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.5978289/why-people-in-ontario-s-hardest-hit-neighbourhoods-are-struggling-to-get-vaccines-1.5978297
And so we've opened eligibility in targeted postal codes through mobile outdoor pop-up clinics which so far seem to be operating in fast food and religious venue parking lots, apartment courtyards, and plazas with no advance notice: https://www.toronto.com/news-story/10369487-pop-up-vaccine-clinics-create-a-buzz-in-east-toronto-s-covid-19-hotspots/
Which might solve the top level problem (low vaccination rates in high-caseload neighbourhoods) and will lower registration barriers (internet access, digital + English literacy, etc) but it's still equity and theatre.
It gives the illusion of being accessible (it's in McDonald's parking lots in pharmacy deserts) but it still only reaches people who a) are informed b) can wait in line c) can get time off work during clinic hours d) can risk vaccination in field hospital conditions.
Which is to say, we still need to find a way to reach the 15% of seniors over 80 who haven't been vaccinated and want to be, to reach workers who don't have paid sick days to take time off for vaccination, those that don't have safe transportation access to the sites, etc etc etc
Part of why Ontarians are so furious is because all our pandemic policies seem like the gov announces something, waits to see if we're angry, and then walks it back / changes their minds, without the deep policy design work needed to actually solve the problems we're mad about.
And so we're all operating in a state of anticipatory rage, which cannot be good for the soul, or our immune systems.
I recognize that from a high level public health perspective the most important thing is reducing ICU pressure, by reducing the number of people who are hospitalized with COVID and that you do that by vaccinating the most at-risk of getting very sick, not necessarily of exposure.
But at some point we (collectively, politically) have to start caring, for e.g., about the demographics and barriers facing the 15% of 80+ year olds not yet vaccinated. And try and actually solve the problem of equitable vaccine roll-out within the public-health recommended order
And it is WILD that I, while WFH, might be eligible to get vaxxed at a random field clinic intended for entirely not my demographic or risk-profile or apt building, long before I might be eligible on the basis of "at risk" but not "high risk" conditions, or #LongCovid itself.
