Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
B.C. First Nations communities turned out in droves for H1N1 vaccine: Kendall
January 28, 2010 9:28 p.m.
VANCOUVER, B.C. - Not everyone in Canada wanted an H1N1 shot, but B.C.'s chief medical officer of health says the vaccine was popular among First Nations people in that province.
Dr. Perry Kendall says rates of vaccine uptake ranged from about 71 per cent to a staggering 140 per cent in some B.C. First Nations Communities.
Kendall says the 140 per cent figure is the result of First Nations people living off reserve who flocked to a nearby on-reserve community to get H1N1 shots.
He says rates of serious illness among B.C. First Nations people were much lower than in other provinces, thanks to the vaccination rates, active involvement of First Nations leadership and the pre-positioning of antivirals in remote communities.
Kendall says the overall vaccination rate for B.C. was between 38 per cent and 40 per cent, which is one of the lower rates, provincially, in Canada.
Kendall says polling always showed B.C. residents were less interested in the vaccine and says they may be more skeptical than Canadians in other parts of the country.
http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/li...turned-out-in-droves-for-h1n1-vaccine-kendall
January 28, 2010 9:28 p.m.
VANCOUVER, B.C. - Not everyone in Canada wanted an H1N1 shot, but B.C.'s chief medical officer of health says the vaccine was popular among First Nations people in that province.
Dr. Perry Kendall says rates of vaccine uptake ranged from about 71 per cent to a staggering 140 per cent in some B.C. First Nations Communities.
Kendall says the 140 per cent figure is the result of First Nations people living off reserve who flocked to a nearby on-reserve community to get H1N1 shots.
He says rates of serious illness among B.C. First Nations people were much lower than in other provinces, thanks to the vaccination rates, active involvement of First Nations leadership and the pre-positioning of antivirals in remote communities.
Kendall says the overall vaccination rate for B.C. was between 38 per cent and 40 per cent, which is one of the lower rates, provincially, in Canada.
Kendall says polling always showed B.C. residents were less interested in the vaccine and says they may be more skeptical than Canadians in other parts of the country.
http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/li...turned-out-in-droves-for-h1n1-vaccine-kendall
