No COVID vaccine in near future for Hamilton’s homeless
Hamilton's homeless are unlikely to be vaccinated any time soon despite growing outbreaks in shelters that highlight the population's vulnerability to COVID.
People who are homeless are missing from the list of those next in line and the city's medical officer of health didn't provide a lot of hope they would be added by the province.
We're working on looking at further clarification," Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said at a city briefing Monday. The bottom line here in Hamilton is we don't have enough vaccine in order to move forward with these groups."
The omission comes as Hamilton has five ongoing outbreaks in shelters and three more in settings that provide services to vulnerable populations.
The largest outbreak is at the Salvation Army Booth Centre at 94 York Blvd., which climbed to 32 cases Thursday - 28 residents and four staff.
But outbreaks in shelters go far beyond the case numbers as they often halt admissions.
I wake up every morning, wondering if a patient of mine has frozen to death overnight," Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk said Feb. 18 after outbreaks temporarily closed all three of Hamilton's permanent men's shelters to new residents.
I recognize there are a lot of competing priorities," Dr. Tim O'Shea, medical director of the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team, said at that time. But to me there is compelling reasons to prioritize this group."
He added, We know homeless people are more likely to die than the general population so there is a mortality risk there."
While vaccines cannot be used to control ongoing outbreaks, they can dramatically reduce future infections and deaths.
Provincial projections Thursday show long-term care vaccinations contributed to the number of infected residents dropping to less than 50 per day in February from more than 250 per day in January.
Hamilton has also seen the difference with five ongoing outbreaks in seniors' homes Thursday compared to 22 on Jan. 25.
Vaccinating staff is also a big factor, especially in shelters where O'Shea warns, If we start to see shelter staff getting sick, the potential for the system to collapse is very high."
Richardson said some shelter staff - specifically those who provide what she called personal services" - are among the next group in line to be vaccinated, but not all of them.
Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com