Public health says social media thwarted its attempts to prioritize racialized Hamiltonians for vaccine clinic
Hamilton public health says it could have done a better job of trying to vaccinate at-risk" populations when it sent out a vague pre-invitation email for a clinic to a select group of community partners" on Monday.
There was no mention in the email about who the pre-invitation for was for. The booking link leaked on social media and the weekend clinic filled up in less than 24 hours.
Unfortunately ... social media is what it is, ultimately, in terms of where information goes," said Hamilton's medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, at a committee meeting of city council on Wednesday. This is part of the challenge, is then there's a broad access in terms of people being able to get in and we find that often those who are equity-seeking aren't able to get there and get the access they need."
Sarah Jama, a prominent Hamilton community organizer, took issue with Richardson's comments.
If the vaccines were earmarked for Black and racialized people, market it as such," she wrote on Twitter. The problem seems to be the lack of use of the words: Black' or racialized,' not the social media circulation."
News of the clinic was spread Monday evening. Vaccine Hunters Canada posted it on their Twitter account, which has more than 125,000 followers. Others found out about it through friends on Facebook.
At the city meeting, in response to questions from Coun. Nrinder Nann, Richardson said information about the clinic was initially only shared with equity-seeking groups to try and improve access for our Black and racialized communities."
But there was nothing in the email, viewed by The Spectator, that told recipients to keep it confidential nor that it was intended for racialized individuals, or anyone in particular.
We are sharing the information below about new vaccine clinics before releasing it to the media tomorrow," read the pre-invitation email sent late Monday afternoon.
The email went on to include information on how to register.
In an statement Wednesday, Richardson told The Spectator: Public health services appreciates that the clarity around this message and process could have been improved and will apply learnings from this experience on a go-forward basis."
Ameil Joseph, an associate professor in McMaster's faculty of social studies, who has been fighting to get Black and other racialized individuals priority access to vaccines, confirmed he received public health's pre-invitation email.
I don't know how or why they didn't specify who it was for," he said, adding that it was a missed opportunity to prioritize racialized Hamiltonians.
In Richardson's statement, she suggested the clinic was never meant to exclusively target any one group.
The intention was to send a public media release yesterday (Tuesday) morning to broadly promote the clinic for all adults aged 40-plus, however, the clinic details were broadly shared and circulated prematurely and quickly were fully booked with 1,000 appointments," Richardson said. As a result, the media release was not sent."
The AstraZeneca clinic, being held this weekend at FirstOntario Centre, was the first offered to Hamiltonians in the 40 to 49 age category.
Richardson urged anyone who booked an appointments to keep it - regardless of who they are.
Richardson told councillors plans are in the works to open clinics for specific community groups, including Black and racialized Hamiltonians.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com