How Brampton went from a COVID-19 hotspot to one of Canada's most vaccinated communities

After a dark period last year as a nationwide COVID-19 hotspot, Brampton and Peel Region have emerged as one of the most vaccinated communities in the country.

As of Friday, 86 per cent of residents 12 and older in Peel Region are fully vaccinated, and 90 per cent of residents 12 and older have had a first shot. The region now sees an average of 40 cases per day. This time last year, that number was more than 10 times higher.

"I think that speaks to how our community has stepped up," said Peel Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lawrence Loh.

He says the way a diverse region facing critical language and social barriers came together to get shots into arms is a major story.

"It's been a whole community effort that's actually made the difference in getting to our large vaccination rates," he told CBC News.

While that effort started with public health staff working 24/7, and municipal, regional, and provincial governments mandating masks and vaccine certificates, Loh says, it also involved a collaboration between Peel Public Health and local groups like Indus Community Services, Punjabi Community Health Services, Roots Community Services, and many more.

Other organizations, like the Canadian Muslim COVID-19 Task Force, the South Asian COVID-19 Task Force, the Latin American COVID-19 Task Force and the Black Health Task Force, informed their respective communities about the virus, testing and vaccinations in languages that residents spoke, from sources they trusted.

"They were indefatigable ... They were going door-to-door setting up bookings and transportation networks to get people to go to clinics, working with us to set up mobile clinics," Loh said.

"That was actually really a big secret to our success," he added.

The groups helped remove what Loh describes as "hard barriers," like finding time off work, or getting to a clinic, or speaking to a doctor or nurse in a familiar language. He says once those barriers were removed, vaccinations increased.

"Many new Canadians, racialized populations have connections to places where other vaccine-preventable diseases are fairly prevalent ... They have a healthy respect for the science and effectiveness behind vaccines," Loh said.

"So you see a greater willingness to act, to take the vaccine where there can be access provided."

Dr. Hashim Khan, the co-chair of the Canadian Muslim COVID-19 Task Force, says Muslim doctors and imams came together to discuss the impact the virus would not just on Muslims in Peel, but across Canada.

"We knew our communities had a lot of risk factors like multi-generational homes, essential work, lower levels of health literacy that would contribute to the spread of the virus," Khan said.