Sue Robins: No Canadian province has made people with Down syndrome or other developmental disabilities a priority for the COVID vaccine. Only the Yukon and the Northwest Territories are currently prioritizing vaccinations for all disabled people.
Other countries have also surpassed Canadian provinces in recognizing the COVID risk for people with developmental disabilities. The U.K. is currently vaccinating adults with learning disabilities, and India began vaccinating people with intellectual disabilities on March 1.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control added Down syndrome to its list of high-risk conditions in late December.
But Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization, which makes recommendations on the use of vaccines, does not specifically name Down syndrome or people with developmental disabilities in its guidance. And it has sparse mention for any type of disability. Strikingly, the committee’s guidance on vaccination prioritization, which is over 9,000 words long, only uses the word disability three times.