Luisa Cunha
Three years after the pandemic’s start, we at Latincouver and in Canada have learned many lessons about COVID-19, how to take care of our health, and be resilient during unpredictable times. We have learned about the importance of vaccinating and how our community responded to the pandemic. And now, how can we move forward?
The pandemic has affected people differently – vaccine rates may depend on a person’s age, educational level, access to health, and other factors. However, most Canadians have been vaccinated or intend to get vaccinated (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2022). Additionally, Canada is a multicultural country that welcomes people from different backgrounds, languages, and beliefs, and we must account for our diversity. As stated by Dr. Thereza Tam, “While the COVID-19 pandemic affects us all, the health impacts have been worse for seniors, essential workers, racialized populations, people living with disabilities, and women” (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2020).
Latincouver has received the Immunization Partnership Fund (IPF) in light of this challenge. Through this fund and with the effort of our dedicated team of staff and volunteers, we have been providing valuable health and vaccine-related information and helping our community get through those challenging times. You can check out our work on our social media and website.
Now that we have gone through the most challenging parts of the pandemic, we can learn from our experiences and move forward together. Therefore, we at Latincouver are organizing a virtual roundtable on Feb 23 at 2:30 pm Vancouver time (5:30 pm Toronto time). We will share experiences about vaccination awareness for vulnerable populations, specifically how vulnerable communities respond to recent vaccination campaigns and the main challenges of vaccination awareness.
We would like to invite community leaders, researchers, and the general population to join us at our virtual roundtable, where we can exchange experiences about what we learned from COVID-19 and from engaging with the general public. Our main goal with this panel discussion is to share experiences from different populations and collaborate to identify gaps in promoting vaccination awareness and health messages for vulnerable people in Canada.
If you would like to share your experiences as a member community member, researcher, or representative community organization representative, please join us as a guest speaker. We invite those interested to send a brief description of yourself and your expertise in vaccination awareness to connect@latincouver.ca.
If you are interested in joining the conversation, please register by clicking here.
Finally, we thank the community for supporting our programs, being open to the conversation, and being receptive to our message. As always, we seek to build a solid and collaborative community. We want to continue delivering relevant health-related messages and helping newcomers, immigrants, and others to feel safe, welcomed, and protected in our great country.
References
Public Health Agency of Canada (2022). COVID-19 vaccine uptake and intent: Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) insight [Surveys]. Canada.ca.
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2020, October 29). From risk to resilience: An equity approach to COVID-19 – The Chief Public Health Officer of Canada’s Report on the State of Public Health in Canada 2020 [Education and awareness].
