Upper northeast sees nearly 99 per cent vaccination rate, leads Alberta

Vaccinations up in northeast Calgary Community leaders say there are a lot of reasons why northeast Calgary has one of the highest vaccination rates in Alberta.

CALGARY — Calgary's upper northeast has the highest vaccination rate in Alberta with 98.6 per cent of people over the age of 12 with at least one COVID-19 shot in their arm.

The numbers come from the Alberta Health website that tracks vaccine uptake.

"From the 60 to 74 age range category we're already at 100 per cent - there are some groups that it's 100 per cent totals and I wouldn't be surprised if we get to 100 per cent in the next month," says Anila Lee Yuen with the Centre for Newcomers.

Lee Yuen credits a broad collaborative effort by community organizations - more than 240 by her count - which worked to encourage people as well as organizing mobile clinics, translation services and other efforts to make it easier to get immunized.

She says a large number of essential and front-line workers live in the area and are often unable to work from home or take time off for either illness or appointments. Many homes are also inter-generational, meaning young people are less able to isolate and keep older generations safe.

"(These) are the same reasons why there's higher motivation to be vaccinated in Northeast Calgary," Lee Yuen says.

Many in the upper northeast also have close family ties to India, which suffered a horrific wave in the spring which at its peak killed roughly 4,500 people a day. The true number of deaths was likely much higher.

"So, of course, that weighs heavily in on you as well," Lee Yuen says. She says she also lost family in India during the spring wave. "There are some populations in Alberta that have not experienced COVID first hand, and they certainly have not seen a death in their family or in their friends."

The next highest community in the province is west Jasper Place in Edmonton where 95.2 per cent have at least one vaccine dose.