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Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

Home Publications Persisting inequities in second doses of COVID-19 vaccines

James Iveniuk, Nahomi Amberber, Kwame McKenzie

Persisting inequities in second doses of COVID-19 vaccines

Two Small Empty Disposable Syringe On Wood Background

In mid-April, Wellesley Institute reported that areas in Ontario with higher rates of COVID-19 had lower rates of vaccination. The original report also documented inequities by racial composition of an area: neighbourhoods that had a higher per cent of Black, South Asian, Southeast Asian, or Latino populations had lower rates of vaccination, even after taking COVID-19 infection rates into account.

Since then, at time of writing, 77 per cent of Ontarians have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, enough to begin a substantial rollout of individuals’ second doses. Approximately 29 per cent of people in Ontario have now received their second dose.

This paper revisits the topics above, by investigating whether associations between neighbourhood characteristics (i.e. racial composition and poverty rates) and vaccination have changed as the second doses of vaccines are being rolled out.

Persisting inequities in second doses of COVID19 vaccines

Download Persisting inequities in second doses of COVID19 vaccines

Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.