Influenza vaccination coverage across ethnic groups in Canada

The authors have formulated an interesting article focused on ethnicity however missed perhaps the most important factor in vaccination status: length of time since arrival in Canada by either themselves or their ancestors. This would correlate strongly with first hand or familial encounter and experience with infectious disease from either country of origin in the developing world or time spent in suboptimal conditions as result of war or as a refugee. Generally people who have seen the devastating and often lethal effects of infectious disease first hand are eager to be immunized against any and all possibilities when offered especially when they are without cost. This would certainly extend to their children and grandchildren. Except for the Aboriginal population which was not easily identified or measured in this study, whites and blacks have been in Canada longer than almost every other group. They have the least experience with and memory of disease, pestilence and plague.

Conflict of Interest:

Advisory Boards for Vaccine Divisions of Merck, GSK, Novartis and AstraZeneca