Nova Scotia government moves homeless population up priority line for vaccines

Nova Scotia’s homeless population is expected to receive COVID-19 vaccines sooner than originally planned.

While they were originally slated to be vaccinated in the second phase, Premier Iain Rankin says they will be moved up, given that they’re a vulnerable group.

It’s welcome news for those who work with the population on a regular basis.

READ MORE: ‘We’ve come so far’ — Dr. Strang looks back on 1 year of COVID in Nova Scotia

“The folks we’re talking about, a lot of times, are in a congregate living scenario where they may not be able to socially distance or adhere to some of the same precautions other citizens can,” says Becky Marval, a team lead for the Mobile Outreach Street Health (MOSH), which has partnered with Public Health to help with the rollout of vaccines through the use of mobile clinics.

“We’ve been working in the community since 2009 in a mobile service, going to where people are, trying to make it more accessible, and reduce some of the barriers in accessing health care.”

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It’s that previous experience that makes them well-positioned to take on this new endeavour. A number of vans have already been used to take health care on the road during this pandemic. In December, the province launched mobile COVID-19 testing clinics to make testing more accessible to communities dealing with outbreaks.

READ MORE: Nova Scotia deploys mobile COVID-19 testing unit, the first in Atlantic Canada

For those who work with the homeless population, the idea of mobile vaccination clinics is well received.

“A lot of our guests definitely have mobility challenges so having them mobile is a definite benefit for them for sure,” says Cherry Laxton, chief operating officer at Souls Harbour Rescue Mission.

Since the pandemic, the non-profit has seen an increased need in the community. While the mission would regularly serve 150 hot meals a day, it is now serving closer to 300 a day, though no longer through a sit-down and dine-in capacity.

“We’re now doing still hot meals cooked and prepared in-house but now they’re packaged in individual, one-time serve containers and served take-out style at the door,” Laxton says.

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The province says the mobile clinics will help administer vaccines to about 900 people who use, work or volunteer at shelters in the Halifax Region.

At this point, Laxton says she’s not sure if they’ll be included in that, but if given the opportunity, they’d love to have a clinic come to the mission’s location in Halifax’s North End.

“Our main goal is to get our guests back inside to get them back into the community, to get them back into being able to socialize and not being isolated, and the faster they’re vaccinated, the faster we can roll that out here.”

Over at MOSH, Marval says they’re ready to start dolling out vaccines once they get the supply, but acknowledges there will be some unique obstacles.

“There certainly are challenges with respect to folks being transient, where they may not still be at that shelter when we go back for the second vaccine.”

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One possible solution for that is to use the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine which was recently approved by Health Canada although no details have been released as to when Nova Scotia will begin receiving those, but regardless of what vaccine they’re given, Marval says they’ll make it work.

“We’re reassured that one dose of vaccine dose provides better protection than no dose, and we do have confidence that we’ll be able to deliver the second dose for the majority of people.”

Marval also says they are expecting that there will be some hesitancy among the homeless population to receive the vaccine, but says they’re hoping that the relationships they’ve already developed over the years and trust they’ve established with many in the community will help to overcome that.