Low COVID vaccine uptake linked to housing insecurity

(© Image: Adobestock) - By the end of September 2021, uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among adults with a recent experience of housing insecurity were 25 per cent lower than the adult population of Ontario for a first dose, and 34 per cent lower for a second dose, according to a new study. Published in The Lancet Public Health , the study is the first in Canada to examine vaccination rates among persons experiencing homelessness. Using provincial data from ICES Western, researchers followed 23,247 adults with a recent experience of homelessness from December 14, 2020, to September 30, 2021, and examined vaccination rates for a first and second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which they compared to the adult population of Ontario. "What is particularly striking about our study findings is that despite being prioritized for early vaccination receipt and the considerable efforts by shelters, public health organizations, health care institutions, and various community organizations to make vaccines available to people experiencing homelessness in Ontario, vaccination rates for a first dose have substantially lagged behind the rest of Ontario," said Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing professor Salimah Shariff , also an associate scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, and scientist at ICES Western.