Medical racism against Indigenous communities remains rampant. How can a COVID-19 vaccine be deployed equitably?

Author Brennan Doherty
Transparency and representation are key to an equitable vaccine rollout for Indigenous communities

Why It Matters

The Canadian government is promising a smooth rollout of approved COVID-19 vaccines to everyone who wants one. But even the best logistical systems will be irrelevant if Indigenous peoples, who are considered especially vulnerable to COVID-19, are reluctant to be vaccinated due to a history of medical racism.

var TRINITY_TTS_WP_CONFIG = {"cleanText":"Medical racism against Indigenous communities remains rampant. How can a COVID-19 vaccine be deployed equitably?. Every time Lindsay Peach, the executive director of Mi\u2019kmaq Health and Wellness, walks into the convention centre of the Membertou First Nation, an Indigenous community near Sydney, Nova Scotia, she has flashbacks to the H1N1 pandemic.\u00a0 Back then, the convention centre acted as a makeshift vaccination site for the community of around 1,600. Peach recalls seeing people lined up around the corner during the H1N1 pandemic, waiting for their shots. \u201cI think, in this case, the planning for the COVID vaccine needs to look so different because we can\u2019t have people gathered in large areas like we would for a mass immunization clinic,\u

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