Canada’s public health department conveys that immigration status will not be the aspect of rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) announces, “COVID-19 will be provided to all the people in Canada only for those for whom it has been approved and highly recommended for use. This will be available for the person whether they are Canadian citizens or not.”
At present, Canada has been sanctioned the Pfitzer-BioNTech vaccine for the individual over 16 years of age, and the Moderna vaccine mainly for the people over the age of 18 years. The vaccination’s priority will be first provided to the citizens and the staff of care homes, adults over 70 years of age, health care workers, and adults in Indigenous communities.
The Canadian government also states that additional vaccines will be made applicable for the more and more populations with access to the vaccine.
All these groups may include citizens and staff living in shared spaces like housing for migrant workers, some essential workers, and health care workers who are not considered in the initial rollout.
On January 21, 2021, 935,700 prescriptions of vaccines have been delivered to Canada. Out of which, 729,640 prescriptions were executed on January 21. As per the vaccine tracker that has been carried out by a University of Saskatchewan student as per the official updates from each province.
Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments are taking the help of the suggestion set out in the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) to support assembling their vaccine distribution priorities.
Immigrants are incorporated in these suggestions; give various aspects that put them at risk. For example, many migrants might have different exposure to the disease because of international travel or their profession and several other factors. NACI recommended a large number of interventions to decrease inequality and enhance access for migrants and other groups.
Several recommendations may include planning immunization programs with immigration and refugee departments, providing culturally appropriate educational materials in multiple languages, and having translators in clinics.
The territory has openly declared its distribution plans on its vaccine pages. Quebec and Manitoba agents respectively mentioned that immigrants would be obtaining the COVID-19 vaccination regardless of their status.
An agent from the Northwest Territories conveyed in the mail, i.e., “Any person having a substantial NWT medical care card will get a voluntary Moderna vaccine as we perform a phased rollout.”
The Pfizer vaccine distribution is looking forward to decreasing by 50 percent over the forthcoming weeks as the industry is facing challenges in fulfilling global demand.