Vaccine Equity in Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Project
The SCAGO (Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario), a leading patient advocacy and support organization for people affected by sickle cell disease (SCD) in Canada, receives $194k from the Public Health Agency of Canada to improve vaccine equity among the Canadian Sickle Cell Disease community.
During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, low-uptake and poor access to vaccines in many marginalized communities were the norm, highlighting misinformation and hesitancy around vaccines as well as anti-black racism in the Canadian health system. Yet, research has shown that vaccines are important to prevent, or in some cases, eliminate diseases from childhood to adulthood.
Guided by the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us”, a Vaccine Equity in Sickle Cell Disease Advisory Council (VESAC) composed of researchers and people with lived sickle cell experience has been created to develop a vaccine equity strategy (VES) for sickle cell disease. The 9-member VESAC are Drs. Sarah Patterson and Madeleine Verhovsek (McMaster Medical Centre), Dr. Ewurabena Simpson (Children Hospital of Eastern Ontario) Ms. Lanre Tunji-Ajayi (SCAGO), Dr. Sandra Newton (SCAGO), Dr. Doris Forlemu-Kamwa (Black Creek Community Health Centre), Mr. Lance Archer (Patient Advocacy and Advisory Council, SCAGO), Ms. Tanya Elese (Patient Advocacy and Advisory Council, SCAGO), and Mr. Amos Ajayi (Research Committee, SCAGO).
The Vaccination Equity Strategy (VES) project will apply outcomes from the SCAGO’s recently concluded COVID-19 PHAC project; and the evidence-based strategy developed would be an important resource for policy makers, sickle cell clinics and hospitals, public health agencies, community health centres, and community organisations in achieving vaccine equity for the sickle cell and other marginalized communities.
Furthermore, the project will provide the sickle cell disease community with quality resources that will support them to better achieve improved vaccine understanding and make informed vaccine decisions.
The Vaccination Equity Strategy will also constitute a valuable addition to evidence-based data for the sickle cell disease community, and the Black community in general.
The project, which kicked off in September 2023, is in partnership with the Sickle Cell Clinics at the Children Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and the McMaster Medical Centre as well as the Black Creek Community Health Centre (CHC).
To learn more about this study, click here
