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BLACK SCIENTISTS' TASK FORCE ON VACCINE EQUITY

SATURDAY JANUARY 21 / IN-PERSON & VIRTUAL

BLACK SCIENTISTS'

TASK FORCE ON VACCINE EQUITY

The Black Scientists' Task Force on Vaccine Equity (BSTF) was formed in December 2020. The Task Force consists of a team of physicians, specialists, public health and research consultants, immunologists, scientific regulators, mental health experts, and naturopathic physicians. This multidisciplinary team of Black experts was created to share information about COVID-19 and vaccines with the Black Toronto communities and to address their concerns about COVID-19-related issues. Through community, organization, government, health and medical professionals, and academics, the Task Force aimed to promote the Black Canadian community's well-being and health. The goal was to mitigate health disparities and health inequities faced by Black communities in Canada through a tailored response.

THE SCIENCE

OF THE VACCINE

COVID-19 vaccines were created to protect against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus is responsible for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019).

The first COVID-19 vaccines were approved for the public in 2020. Initially, most vaccines were two doses, except for the single-dose version of Janssen. However, due to the nature of the vaccine, its effectiveness eventually wanes, and people need to get additional doses to maintain their immunity.

The success of the COVID-19 vaccines has been attributed to their ability to reduce the severity and spread of the disease. In June 2022, a study revealed that the vaccines prevented about 14.4 to 19.8 million deaths in various countries from December 8, 2020, to December 8, 2021. Most countries that implemented a phased distribution system for the vaccines prioritized those at high risk of experiencing complications, such as the elderly and healthcare workers.

As of October 2022, there are 47 approved vaccines for COVID-19, with 201 countries that have approved vaccines. 68.2% of the world's population have received at least one vaccine dose, with 12.79 billion doses have been administered globally and 4.2 million doses being administered daily.

In Canada, Health Canada has approved and authorized 6 vaccines that have been determined to be safe and effective. The 6 vaccines are AstraZeneca Vaxzevria, Janssen Jcovden (Johnson & Johnson), Medicago Covifenz, Moderna Spikevax, Novavax Nuvaxovid, and Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty.

All vaccines go through a priority approval process with Health Canada. The process is rigorous, with approval decisions based on scientific and medical evidence showing that vaccines are safe and effective for the public.

Vaccines are one of the most effective ways to protect ourselves against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. There is a lot of evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Find more information about vaccines for COVID-19 on the "Myths & Facts" and "Risks & Resource" page.

References: Our COVID-19 information on vaccination was last updated on October 11, 2022.

- https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

- https://covid19.trackvaccines.org/

- https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/vaccines.html

- https://www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-vaccines

- https://jbiomedsci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12929-020-00695-2

- https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(21)00298-5?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1931312821002985%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

- https://www.britannica.com/science/COVID-19-vaccine

- https://www.swissmedic.ch/swissmedic/en/home/news/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-19-impfstoff_erstzulassung.html

- https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ema-recommends-first-covid-19-vaccine-authorisation-eu

- https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(22)00320-6/fulltext

- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-saved-nearly-20-million-lives-in-a-year-study-says/

- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03686-x

- https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/mrna-covid-vaccine-success

- https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.htm

THE VACCINES PREVENTED ABOUT 14.4 TO 19.8 MILLION DEATHS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

DATA

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed long-standing, systemic health inequities related to poverty, racism, marginalization, and other forms of discrimination faced daily by Black communities. These health and social inequities have created the conditions for the COVID-19 pandemic to disproportionately impact Black people and other people of colour.

In July 2020, Black people and other racialized groups accounted for 83% of reported COVID-19 cases in Toronto, with Black populations reporting 21% of the cases, though only making up 9% of Toronto's overall population.

By August 2020, in Toronto, the infection rate for black people is over 2,400 per 100,000 individuals, which is three times higher than that of white people. Racialized Torontonians make up 77% of the city's COVID-19 cases and 79% of hospitalizations. During the first pandemic wave, Black communities were the most severely hit. According to Public Health, COVID-19 cases peaked in August 2020.

Within Toronto, the 5 communities hit the hardest by COVID-19 were Rexdale, Black Creek, Lawrence Heights, Weston-Mount Dennis, and Malvern. The majority of COVID-19 cases in the city were concentrated in lower-income communities that are racialized and have fewer options for self-isolate. These areas also experienced a steep increase in the number of people who could not get sick leave. Even though the lockdown measures could bring the virus under control in some parts of the city, the situation in these neighbourhoods remained incredibly challenging.

IN JULY 2020,

BLACK POPULATIONS IN TORONTO ACCOUNTED FOR

21% OF REPORTED COVID-19 CASES

BLACK SCIENTISTS' TASK FORCE MEMBERS

The Black Scientists' Taskforce comprises a multi-disciplinary team consisting of physicians, specialists, public health and research consultants, immunologists, scientific regulators, mental health experts, and naturopathic physicians.

Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman is a graduate of the University of Toronto Medical School and completed both her pediatrics and subspecialty training in Clinical Immunology and Allergy at McMaster University. At McMaster Children's Hospital she is the allergy lead in the Special Immunization Clinic focusing on vaccine allergy. She is also a practicing allergist in the Greater Toronto Area.

Trevor Aldridge is the Senior Director of Quality & Compliance at Brevitas Consulting Inc. He has more than 30 years of industry experience, including product and process development and the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. His previous positions include Director Quality Operations with Sanofi Pasteur Ltd and Drug and Biologicals Specialist with Health Canada.

Dr. Upton Allen is a professor at the University of Toronto and the Division Head of Infectious Diseases, and Senior Associate Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences Program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children ('Sick Kids'.

Dr. Burt is an Immunologist with more than 30 years of international experience in the research and development of vaccines against infectious diseases, including influenza and SARS. He holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Birmingham and a Bachelors of Science in Biological Chemistry from Essex University. He is an award winning author with over 40 published peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and is a Harry Jerome Award recipient, amongst other Canadian and international awards. Dr. Burt is currently a member of the Review Panel of the Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP) of Ontario Genomics and a consultant for a company developing a Canadian government supported intranasal vaccine for COVID-19 using technology that he previously developed.

Celina Caesar-Chavannes is a Sr. Advisor and Adjunct Lecturer at Queens University. Although most noted for her service as a Member of Parliament, with the Government of Canada representing the Town of Whitby, Mrs. Caesar-Chavannes is also a renowned research consultant and has worked on basic, clinical and epidemiological research studies with a variety of Canadian and international private, government and non-government organizations.

As the first executive director of TAIBU Community Health Centre, Liben Gebremikael has led the organization for the past 14 years. Today TAIBU has strong community roots and has become a recognizable agency that is committed to addressing the impact of anti-Black racism on the health and wellbeing of Black communities.

Liben Gebremikael has over 30 years of experience in primary healthcare, social services, mental health, and community capacity building and development field.

He holds an MA in Migration, Mental Health & Social Care from the University of Kent (UK), a Masters Certificate in Healthcare Management from Schulich School of Business. He has completed Community Health Leadership Program at the Rotman School of Management. In 2021, he completed the Strategic Perspectives for Non-Profit Organization program at the Harvard Business School.

In 2021, under his leadership TAIBU received the Inaugural Scarborough Hero Awards for its contribution to the response to COVID-19 and the Black Health Alliance Legacy Award for excellence in community engagement and health promotion. in February 2022, TAIBU received the Outstanding Organization Award from the Jamaican Canadian Association.

Francis Jeffers is a Quality Control Specialist (Vaccines) and an Active STEM Promoter. He is the Founder/Executive Director of the Canadian Multicultural Inventors Museum (CMIM) and Founder/Past Executive Director of Visions of Science Network for Learning (VoSNL)

Juannittah Kamera is a Registered Nurse and the Coordinator, Health Promotion Programs overseeing Ryerson University's Health Promotion Programs Office. She has a Masters’s in Public Health and Health Promotion and is working on a Masters’s in Social Work. She engages and collaborates with students, staff and faculty to address the numerous issues that challenge students and impede their ability to perform at their best. She is an award winner and nominee whose work contributes to establishing Ryerson as a healthy campus community where students can flourish and succeed.

Dr. Akwatu Khenti is the Special Advisor to the City of Toronto's Targeted COVID Equity Action Plan and the Chair of the Black Scientists' Task Force on Vaccine Equity. Dr. Khenti is an Assistant Professor with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health where he also serves as Special Advisor on Equity and Inclusion and an Affiliate Scientist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He has a PhD in Health Policy and Equity from York University and served as the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Province of Ontario's Anti-Racism Directorate, as well as CAMH's Director of Transformative Global Health.

As Chair of the Task Force, he brings his expertise in anti-Black racism, mental health and the adaptation of mainstream health interventions to African and Caribbean cultures.

Dr. Na-Koshie Lamptey is the Deputy Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto. Dr. Lamptey obtained her medical degree at the University of Toronto, as well as degrees in Epidemiology and Public Health Management from Yale and a Bachelor of liberal arts from Princeton University. Dr. Lamptey is a public health and preventive medicine physician committed to improving population health through clinical care, policy development and system advocacy.

I am the CEO of Wellesley Institute; a full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, an international expert on the social causes of illness and the development of effective, equitable social policy and health systems; Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH); and, a practicing psychiatrist.

As a policy advisor, clinician, educator and academic with over 240 peer reviewed papers and 6 books, I have worked across a broad spectrum to improve population health and health services for three decades.

My work with colleagues at Wellesley Institute has influenced local and national social policy and my academic research and collaborations have changed teaching, clinical practice and policy in psychiatry.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, I convened a broad coalition of academics, clinicians and communities to draw attention to the inequitable impacts of the pandemic and the need for collection and use of socio-demographic data. This work has been credited with changing pandemic strategies in Canada and has attracted international attention.

I have worked as an adviser to health ministers in the UK and Canada and to housing, education and social services ministers in Canada. I am a member of Canada’s National Advisory Council on Poverty and in 2020 was a member of Canada’s delegation to the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

Provincially, I have recently completed positions as a Commissioner of Human Rights, an advisor to Ontario's Basic Income Pilot Project and as a member of the Mental Health and Addictions Advisory Council to the Minister of Health Ontario. I am a previous Member of the Executive and of the Council of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK.

In addition to my academic, policy and clinical work, I have been a columnist for the Guardian and the Times-online and presented “All in the Mind” for BBC Radio 4. I currently write op-eds for the Toronto Star.

Dr. Onye Nnorom is a Family Doctor and a Public Health & Preventive Medicine specialist. Dr. Nnorom completed her medical degree at McGill University and then completed a Masters of Public Health (Epidemiology) at the University of Toronto. Being of Nigerian and Trinidadian heritage, she is particularly interested in Black community health and wellness, and racism as a social determinant of health. She is the President of the Black Physicians' Association of Ontario and the host of the podcast 'Race, Health and Happiness' where she interviews successful Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, providing wisdom on how to stay well in a racialized world.

Dr. Isaac  Odame is the Haematology Section Head in the Division of Haematology/Oncology and the Medical Director of the Global Sickle Cell Disease Network at the Centre for Global Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). He is a Professor and Director of the Division of Adult and Paediatric Haematology in the Departments of Medicine and Paediatrics at the University of Toronto (U of T). He holds the Alexandra Yeo Chair in Hematology in the University of Toronto. His work with the Centre for Global Child Health is building enduring collaborations between clinicians/scientists worldwide to further research and advance care of patients, particularly in low-income countries with heaviest disease burden.

As the Vice President, Clinical Care & Recovery and Chief Nurse Executive at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Dionne plays an integral part in helping the organization achieve its goals towards integrated and equitable care and supports for people with mental illness. She leads the program that supports those with the most complex illnesses and is dedicated to improving access to excellent patient-centred care so that people may live these best lives. Dionne brings high energy, a strong work ethic and a positive attitude to all that she does.

Dionne is also a member of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) Black Nurses task force and an active member of the College of Nurses of Ontario's Employer Reference Group. As a Certified Healthcare Executive (CHE), Dionne's previous leadership roles include: Multi-Site Director, Diversity and Cultural Advancement at Orillia's Soldiers Memorial Hospital and SouthLake Regional Hospital in Newmarket.

Dr. Candice Todd is a naturopathic doctor with expertise in health promotion and disease prevention. Dr. Todd completed her Honors Bachelor of Health Sciences degree at the University of Western Ontario. From there she followed her passion for health by completing an intense 4-year program at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine to earn her Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine diploma.

Nicole Welch is the Chief Nursing Officer and COVID-19 Liaison Director with Toronto Public Health. She is a Registered Nurse with a Master of Science Degree in Nursing from McGill University and is in the final stages of obtaining a PhD in Applied Psychology and Human Development from the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She is passionate about issues related to health equity, social justice and supporting the development and maintenance of healthy communities.