COVID-19 cases disproportionately impacting Indigenous communities in B.C.
The fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is having a major impact on Indigenous communities, even though members were among the first to be vaccinated in B.C.
According to the First Nations Health Authority, 14 per cent of hospitalized patients are Indigenous, even though First Nations people make up just over three per cent of B.C.'s population.
"We are definitely seeing a differential impact right now," Shannon McDonald, acting chief medical officer of FNHA, told CTV News Vancouver.
McDonald says of the more than 5,000 active COVID-19 cases in B.C., 478 are in First Nations communities, which is about nine per cent. About a third of those people have been double vaccinated. Additionally, about 20 per cent of those receiving treatment in hospital are also double vaccinated.
Dr. Brian Conway, an infectious disease expert, says the reason double-vaccinated people keep ending up in hospital is because immunization rates aren't increasing quickly enough.
"I think we need to avoid the incorrect narrative that it is an indication that vaccines don't work," he said.
"In this era of the Delta variant and other variants that are coming, the virus enters the community through the unvaccinated. It's amplified in the unvaccinated; it is then secondarily transmitted to the vaccinated."
About 76 per cent of eligible First Nations people in B.C. have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and just over 64 per cent are fully vaccinated.
"Our best tool against this is vaccination, so I strongly encourage people to take advantage of the opportunity to get vaccinated," McDonald said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.