Statistics Canada reached out to people living in Canada at the start of COVID and asked them to participate in an online survey as the pandemic progressed. Thousands of people stepped up. Now Naomi Lightman1 and Hamid Akbary2, have used data from the survey to look at rates of vaccination and illness.
The findings challenge some of the stories that have pervaded the media, particularly when it comes to groups of people who had higher rates of illness during the pandemic. The finding that Black people and people of colour were more likely to contract COVID than white people was not news. But what is much less known is that Black people people of colour and white people have had the same rates of vaccination.
Since the vaccination is effective and there was no difference in vaccination rates, Lightman and Akbary argue that individual factors can be ruled out as an explanation for the higher rate of illness among Black people and people of colour3.
Lightman and Akbary move on to list policy responses that could mitigate the higher rates of infection among Black people and people of colour. Many focus on making workplaces safer. The researchers also include affordable housing which would have made homes safer. Research from Open Policy Network, which suggests that crowding contributed to COVID infection rates, backs up Ligntman and Akbary on this point. Try: Are High Housing Prices Contributing To COVID?
Lightman and Akbary’s research will be of interest particularly in Canada, for the recommended policy responses to reduce the rate and impact of illness for Black people and people of colour. The line of argument developed in the article may also be useful to readers in Canada and beyond. Read more at Policy Options: New data provide insight into pandemic inequalities
