Cole Burston/Getty Images The parts of Ontario hit hardest by COVID-19 are the same places where vaccine uptake among the elderly is lowest, according to new data that highlight the need to boost immunization efforts in high-risk communities. The non-profit Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) found that only 49.7 per cent of people over 80 outside of nursing homes have been vaccinated in neighbourhoods that have reported the highest infection rates since the start of the pandemic. By contrast, first-dose coverage among the elderly is highest – about 70 per cent – in parts of the province that have reported the fewest COVID-19 cases to date.