COVID-19: Vaccination disparity among elementary school students in Quebec

The duty compiled vaccination data for children aged 5 to 11 from data provided by the Integrated Health and Social Services Centers (CISSS) and the Integrated University Health and Social Services Centers (CIUSSS). The granular level varies from one to another since the initial request was for vaccination rates by primary school.

The CIUSSS de l’Estrie refused to provide this data to the Duty. The CIUSSS du Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean only reported the number of children vaccinated per school service center (CSS), without specifying the number of children per category. Two out of four CSSs were able to provide us with this information. The CISSS de l’Outaouais has removed the vaccination data from the CSS des Haut-Bois-de-l’Outaouais.

Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Québec, Côte-Nord, Gaspésie and Îles-de-la-Madeleine only provided data for the entire territory. The Capitale-Nationale, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Outaouais, Laurentides and Lanaudière regions provided the data according to the school service centres. Chaudière-Appalaches shared its data by CLSC, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, by MRC, Montérégie, by local health networks (RLS), Laval, by census tract and Montreal, by neighborhood territory of residence. Nunavik and Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James have instead classified this data by community.

Requests were made on January 6, but the reference date varies by region. The CISSSs and CIUSSSs of Bas-Saint-Laurent, Chaudière-Appalaches, Lanaudière, Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Abitibi-Témiscamingue provided the data as of January 6, while those of Laval, of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and the Laurentians on January 7. The data for Montreal, the Capitale-Nationale, Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James, Gaspésie and Montérégie date from January 10 and those from the Outaouais, from January 12.

Finally, the Nunavik data dates from December 17, which could reflect a discrepancy with the current situation. The Nunavik regional board of health and social services assures that “the efforts to promote and offer vaccination for these age groups took place before December 17, but are continuing”. It justifies the delay in compilation by the complexity of the population lists.


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