Study shows urban Indigenous Peoples experienced lower vaccination rates: Global News
![""](/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Smylie%20vaccine%20-1232231309.jpeg?h=afdc3185&itok=gNaFkpow)
Published: August 3, 2022
The vaccination rate among Indigenous Peoples in Toronto and London, Ont. is lower than that of the general population, based on .
鈥淚ndigenous people were one of the three very first priority groups for access to vaccine in Ontario, along with health-care workers and people that were living in long-term care homes, but despite that prioritization, we鈥檙e actually still seeing significant gaps,鈥 Janet Smylie, a professor at 香港六合彩资料's Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a researcher scientist at St. Michael鈥檚 Hospital who was one of the study鈥檚 authors, told Global.
One of Canada's first M茅tis doctors, Smylie volunteered and performed at a vaccine pow wow hosted at 香港六合彩资料's Varsity Stadium last summer, and participated in other vaccine-related outreach activities focused on Indigenous communities.
Jaris Swidrovich, a pharmacist from Yellow Quill First Nation and an assistant professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, who was not involved in the study, told Global that a history of experimentation and experiences of racist health care contribute to Indigenous Peoples鈥 low vaccination rates.鈥淭here鈥檚 certainly a number of very valid reasons why Indigenous Peoples may choose to either delay or to not receive an immunization,鈥 he said.