Canada's high-risk populations face COVID-19 vaccine barriers

FILE PHOTO: Nurses from Humber River Hospital's mobile vaccine clinic administer the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a Toronto Community Housing building, as part of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination campaign, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada April 13, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

TORONTO (Reuters) - As Canada's vaccination campaign ramps up, people at higher risk of transmitting COVID-19 often lack the resources to navigate labyrinthine booking systems or the documentation that would ease their path to inoculation.

Those without provincial health insurance, such as refugee claimants or undocumented workers, often perform front-line jobs or live in neighbourhoods that put them at high risk of infection. Immunizing this population is critical to tackling Canada's crushing third-wave of the pandemic, epidemiologists said.