Most vulnerable in Kahnawake receive COVID-19 vaccine as community campaign begins
Ninety-year-old Warisó:se Myrtle Bush was the first elder living at home in Kahnawake, Que., to receive a shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as the Kanien kehá:ka (Mohawk) community began its mass vaccination campaign this week.
Social Sharing I wasn’t feeling bad, but I’m feeling even better now that I got it, says elder
Posted: Mar 04, 2021 7:20 PM ET | Last Updated: March 5
Kahnawake s vaccination clinic opened on March 4, with 90-year-old Warisó:se Myrtle Bush being the first elder to receive the shot.(Submitted by Jenny Kjono)
“Once we complete 85 and older, we will move on to the rest of the community,” said Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre director Lisa Westaway, who said more details on next steps would become available “very, very shortly.” Anyone aged 70 and over accompanying a person at least 85 years old can also receive a dose. “We also will be able to make special arrangements for anybody who is not able to make it to the bingo hall on their own,” said Westaway. The Kanien kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence river, across from Montreal. Despite its proximity to the city, the spread of the virus in the community has not been nearly as intense.
KAHNAWAKE The Kanien kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake is being described as a miracle and a statistical anomaly when it comes to fighting the spread of COVID-19. While Quebec in general, and the greater Montreal area in particular, are hard hit, the Mohawk community has no deaths or hospitalizations resulting from the novel coronavirus. Part of that success has been attributed to the expertise of family doctor and virologist Annick Gauthier. During spring break in 2020, when COVID-19 first began to appear in the province, Gauthier was on a trip to New York, where she was going to meet former colleagues from Rockefeller University. She d worked with them previously to discover a treatment for hepatitis C. Dr. Charles Rice was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine last October for his work on the project.
Quebec s fourth priority group in its preliminary vaccination plan consists of isolated and remote communities. While that does include many Indigenous communities, Whiteduck said there s been no information as to where a community like Kitigan Zibi fits in. There s no transparency around this. Sadly, it s going to affect and it s going to probably kill some First Nations people. And that s what I don t want, he said. Maybe the feds need to take control of it and administer for First Nations here on out because Quebec is obviously not doing an adequate job in handling this.
Working in collaboration
Quebec s Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) said it is working in collaboration with Indigenous partners and Indigenous Services Canada to plan a vaccination operation in the Indigenous communities.