RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Racial disparities in COVID-19 vaccination in Canada: results from the cross-sectional Canadian Community Health Survey
JF CMAJ Open
JO CMAJ
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP E1075
OP E1082
DO 10.9778/cmajo.20230026
VO 11
IS 6
A1 Mireille Guay
A1 Aubrey Maquiling
A1 Ruoke Chen
A1 Valérie Lavergne
A1 Donalyne-Joy Baysac
A1 Ève Dubé
A1 Shannon E. MacDonald
A1 S. Michelle Driedger
A1 Nicolas L. Gilbert
YR 2023
UL http://www.cmajopen.ca/content/11/6/E1075.abstract
AB Background: Racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccination coverage have been observed in Canada and in other countries. We aimed to compare vaccination coverage for at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine between First Nations people living off reserve and Métis, Black, Arab, Chinese, South Asian and White people.Methods: We used data collected between June 2021 and June 2022 by Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey, a large, nationally representative cross-sectional study. The analysis included 64 722 participants aged 18 years or older from the 10 provinces. We used a multiple logistic regression model to determine associations between vaccination status and race, controlling for collection period, region of residence, age, gender and education.Results: Nonvaccination against COVID-19 was more frequent in off-reserve First Nations people (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2–2.7) and Black people (adjusted OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1–2.6), and less frequent among South Asian people (adjusted OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1–0.7) compared to White people.Interpretation: This analysis showed significant inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake between racial/ethnic populations in Canada. Further research is needed to understand the sociocultural, structural and systemic facilitators of and barriers to vaccination across racial groups, and to identify strategies that may improve vaccination uptake among First Nations and Black people.