News Releases

News Release - Manitoba

February 24, 2021

Manitoba First Nations Vaccination Data Now Available Online



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First Nations vaccination data is now publicly available through First Nations websites and on the Manitoba government’s COVID-19 data hub, Dr. Marcia Anderson, public health lead of the Manitoba First Nation Pandemic Response Coordination Team and Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of Manitoba’s Vaccine Implementation Task Force, announced today.
 
“First Nations people in Manitoba make up a higher proportion of hospitalizations and fatalities from COVID-19, and we continue to work to get the vaccine into arms as soon as we can,” said Anderson. “Having data about the doses administered both on and off reserve will help people understand and assess our progress in protecting First Nations people from the virus.”
 
The data will be updated every Friday, based on information collected the previous week. The data is broken down by tribal council regions and by regional health authorities, and includes information on the percentage the on-reserve population that has received one or two doses, as well as doses administered both on and off reserve. 
 
“Manitoba is one of the first provinces to release data on the vaccination of First Nations peoples, ensuring we are open and transparent about where doses have been provided and how many people have received the vaccine,” said Reimer. 
 
As there are significant limitations in the ability to identify First Nations people within health administrative data sources, multiple different mechanisms are used to generate First Nations COVID-specific data. For vaccination data, this is primarily through a linkage analysis with the Indian Status Registry. This will result in an undercount of First Nations people who have been vaccinated since non-registered/non-status First Nations people will be missed.

“We have made a good start to ensuring First Nations people in Manitoba have equitable access to the vaccine, but there is more work to do,” said Anderson. “As more vaccine arrives in Manitoba and different vaccines become available, we will continue to work with First Nations leadership to ensure vaccine is provided safely, as soon as possible.”
 
To view the data online, visit the Manitoba COVID-19 First Nations Vaccinations Dashboard at http://datamb.ca.


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The Province of Manitoba is distributing this release on behalf of the partner organizations.