School vaccination rates: A tale of two St. Anns
At 88.6 per cent, St. Ann Catholic Elementary School in Ancaster has the highest rate of students fully immunized against COVID-19 in the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board - and in the city. It also has one of the highest rates of students from middle- and upper-class households.
A school of the same name in central Hamilton, where nearly half the students come from lower-income households, has the lowest vaccination rate in the board at 44.9 per cent.
The two St. Anns tell the story of vast disparities in student vaccination rates at Hamilton schools - ones that mirror broader socioeconomic trends.
It reflects very much the findings over more than a generation ... that demonstrate pretty clearly that people that are at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum and also people who are racialized and/or new Canadians have very unequal access to health care," said Terry Cooke, president and CEO of the Hamilton Community Foundation.
Earlier this week, Hamilton public health published vaccination rates for public and private schools in its jurisdiction. The rates - which ranged from 18 per cent to 89 per cent - are as of Oct. 25 and include 38,000 eligible students born in 2009 or earlier.
The data clearly shows that both socioeconomic status and religion are driving factors.
Seven of the 10 schools with the lowest per cent of students fully vaccinated against COVID are Christian schools, the lowest with a vaccine coverage of about 18 per cent.
What you see is, then, two types of people who would represent the parents of the students in lower vaccine coverage schools," said Dr. Peter Juni, head of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. One is parents who have experienced oppression, systemic racism or discrimination before, and therefore just are distrustful with the system ... And then there's the other group of people where this is more about views and religious belief."
Not only is the gap wide, but, overall, the numbers are low. As of Nov. 18, about 83 per cent of eligible Hamiltonians are fully vaccinated. This means that just 11 schools, all in more affluent areas, meet or exceed the city's rate.
Though the broader trends are conclusive, Hamilton public health said to expect some margin of error in the data. Estimates may be under-reported due to the inability to access or link some vaccine records," spokesperson James Berry said in an email.
Berry said permanently closed schools included in the data, such as elementary schools Elizabeth Bagshaw and Green Acres, are being reviewed.
This validation work has no impact on the vaccine coverage estimates of other schools," he said.
Barriers to access, skepticism
Experts say low vaccination rates in low-income school communities are likely driven by a combination of factors, including skepticism around public health advice and barriers to access.
Do you have the flexibility to get to and from where the vaccines are being distributed, do you have child-care responsibilities, are you a single parent that finds it difficult to get out to do that, are there language barriers?" Cooke said.
At the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, coverage ranges from 37.1 per cent at Hillcrest Elementary School in east Hamilton to 86.6 per cent at Sir William Osler Elementary School in Dundas. High-priority schools - those in areas with greater socioeconomic challenges - are overrepresented in the bottom third of the list.
In a Nov. 15 release, public health said rates appear to correlate with a community's socioeconomic status, which are consistent with what is seen in Hamilton's general population." The disparity is rooted in the social determinants of health" - non-medical factors that affect health, such as income, education, housing and social inclusion - which differ across communities.
Neil Johnston, a Hamilton health researcher who collaborated with The Spectator on the award-winning Code Red Project, which showed that where you live affects your health, said the data speak for themselves."
If we know that certain schools have a relatively low acceptance rate ... for vaccination against COVID, then surely there's an opportunity to put in place specific interventions that overcome that," he said.
That's the group that we could reach and that we should try to reach'
The consequences for the unimmunized are grave.
They will drive the pandemic," Juni said. Not only that, but they will also suffer from it."
Projections show that in the next nine to 12 months, an estimated one in 75 unvaccinated people in their 40s - which includes many parents with school-aged kids - will end up in the hospital, one in 190 will end up in the ICU and one in 900 will die because of a vaccine-preventable cause," Juni said. The risk increases with age.
Juni said learning more about barriers to vaccination experienced by lower-income groups will help keep people safe and schools open.
That's the group that we could reach and that we should try to reach," he said.
Catholic board chair Pat Daly said the numbers show the real need for us as a community ... to do whatever we can to close the socioeconomic gaps that obviously exist." Daly said the board is using avenues of communication to encourage parents to vaccinate their children.
Starting next week, Hamilton public health is hosting in-school vaccine clinics for students, families and staff in areas with lower rates.
These numbers are not a report card, they are a trend," public board chair Dawn Danko said, emphasizing that numbers can change over time. It's important data that can help us focus our efforts on getting the information and access to vaccinations to the communities that need it most."
Kate McCullough is a reporter covering education at The Spec. kmccullough@thespec.com