No, not all unvaccinated people are anti-vaccine

Doctors and researchers worry about stigma against vulnerable people who are not vaccinated

Judith Lachapelle
Press

Who are all these unvaccinated people who end up in the hospital? No, these aren’t necessarily caricatures of anti-vaccine campaigners with conspiracy theories, the D observed on the ground.^D Marie-Michelle Bellon.

During the holiday season, the D^D Bellon had the opportunity to go on duty at the COVID unit at Notre-Dame Hospital in Montreal. Unvaccinated and hospitalized patients, she has seen several. Homeless people or others who suffer from mental health problems, and who do not have enough support to accompany them in this vaccination process. Elderly, destitute people who live alone and isolated. “People who are not sick enough for us to come and get vaccinated at home, but for whom making a vaccination appointment on the internet is complicated. ”

“I have also seen people without a health insurance card, without legal existence. One of them spoke neither French nor English. In short, a lot of unvaccinated people who have fallen through the cracks. “What scares me is when I read that they should no longer be treated. It’s atrocious to read that. These are already marginalized people who will be further stigmatized. ”

In the heart of the Laurentians, the D^r Vincent Bouchard-Dechêne shares the same observations. “We often make an amalgamation between non-vaccinated and antivax. There are important nuances to be made, ”says the practitioner at the Saint-Jérôme hospital.

“In the most disadvantaged populations, we see more problems of homelessness and isolation. We see more elderly people who have few resources, who do not have the Internet. Among these people, there are a lot of unvaccinated people who are not anti-vaccines, ”says Dr.^r Bouchard-Dechêne, who says he is convinced that many of his patients would have agreed to be vaccinated if they had been taken care of earlier.

Of course, adding restrictions on the freedoms of the unvaccinated will eventually push a few to get vaccinated to escape the stigma. “But that does not change anything for populations who are already outside the health network,” says Julien Simard, social gerontologist and lecturer at the University of Montreal. It only worsens the divide with the health care system. ”

Elderly, isolated, excluded

There is no statistical portrait of the famous proportion of 10% of unvaccinated people, says Julien Simard. However, the difficulties of accessing the health system among certain vulnerable populations, especially the elderly, are well known, he recalls. “Mobility problems, cost of public transport, loss of autonomy, social isolation, very low income, cognitive problems, lack of knowledge of the two official languages, illiteracy, digital divide, racism, homophobia and mistrust of the health system and the authorities , especially for older refugees who have left difficult political contexts ”are examples.

What more can the state do to protect the most vulnerable, and thus its hospitals? Extend mobile home vaccination, cite for example Julien Simard and D^r Bouchard-Dechêne. But also, intensify efforts to reach all those people who do not watch government press conferences or the media in which the importance of vaccination has been hammered out for a year.

But the D^r Bouchard-Dechêne has few illusions.

Julien Simard emphasizes that the Montreal Regional Public Health Department has done “absolutely incredible outreach to reach vulnerable populations”. “But resources are still very limited. ”

“Scapegoats”

“It seems that everyone is channeling their frustration on the unvaccinated, on the impression that if we force them to be vaccinated, we will solve the crisis. But this is not necessarily the case ”, deplores the D^D Bellon.

Julien Simard goes further, accusing decision-makers of “wanting to create scapegoats” by targeting the unvaccinated.

“Hospitals are not overflowing because of the unvaccinated,” says Julien Simard. Hospitals are overflowing because Quebec’s hospital capacity has been sharply reduced in the past 30 years due to neoliberal policies. They are overflowing because the government has done nothing to address transmission in key outbreak settings, such as schools, workplaces, and continues to deny the importance of aerosol transmission. The fact that the healthy front line is all but destroyed certainly doesn’t help either. ”

And that’s not to mention access to vaccination in disadvantaged countries, he recalls. “Because without that, even with 100% vaccination coverage, we will continue to have people who will die and who will be hospitalized. ”