Note: This story has been updated with information provided by WDG Public Health.
NORTH WELLINGTON – While one municipality in Wellington County recently surpassed a COVID vaccination milestone, a neighbouring community has the lowest uptake in the public health region without an obvious explanation why.
As of Thursday, data from WDG Public Health shows less than 70 per cent of the Township of Mapleton’s eligible residents have either one dose or are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Mapleton has the lowest uptake of any municipality in the WDG Public Health region and that has been the case since public health began releasing a breakdown of vaccination rates by municipality in September.
In comparison, neighbouring municipality Wellington North surpassed 90 per cent of their eligible residents receiving at least one dose on Oct. 15 which is the highest of any municipality in the county. The nearby Town of Minto is also over 80 per cent for first doses.
Danny Williamson, WDG Public Health spokesperson, said in an email their public reporting is based on provided town name.
"It works fairly well at the level of Guelph/Rural Wellington/Dufferin. It's accuracy becomes more limited at the level of municipality," Williamson said, adding this is why a range is provided rather than an exact percentage.
"Because of the nature of this reporting, it's quite likely that this gap is somewhat smaller between the two municipalities."
Two mayors say there doesn’t appear to be a clear answer to why there is a difference.
“Residents of Mapleton have had the same opportunities as the residents in Minto and Wellington North when it comes to vaccination,” said Mapleton Mayor Gregg Davidson.
He listed numerous opportunities at public health clinics, pharmacies and health centres but “people have chosen for whatever reason to not get vaccinated.”
He clarified this is not the majority of eligible residents but it’s fairly close when compared to the rates in other towns.
The municipalities are similar, they’re rural, with small urban centres, a Mennonite population and have around 10,000 residents although Williamson noted based on WDG Public Health's best estimates there is a higher proportion of Old Order Mennonites in Mapleton which could be a factor in differing vaccination rates.
Because of this, Davidson said you can’t really point the finger at anything in particular and as far as he’s aware there is no influential person or group that is discouraging local residents from being vaccinated.
Similarly, Wellington North Mayor Andy Lennox couldn’t pinpoint why there’s a high rate of vaccination among residents there but he’s glad to see it.
“I think it’s really to the credit of the people of the township, the residents who see that vaccination is our best way out of the pandemic and they’re taking action to do their part to see that we get there,” Lennox said.
“I also think credit should be given to public health for arranging vaccination clinics at convenient times and places and local pharmacies and family health teams for doing their part as well to allow for as many opportunities for people to get vaccinated if they’re willing to do so.”
In Mapleton, Davidson said ultimately people there have their reasons for waiting for a vaccination or not getting one, just like he and others who got vaccinated had theirs.
“It comes down to personal choice and that’s all I can say on the matter,” Davidson said, adding he believes there could be a higher uptake as more information comes out and time passes.
However, he admitted he is concerned about the possibility of an outbreak and what that could mean when it comes to future lockdowns or shutdowns that may be more localized.
“If we have a large outbreak in Mapleton, and our vaccination numbers indicate that we might have that with the variant that’s out there now, we could have a shut down,” Davidson said.
“I don’t know how that would work because we’re so close to other communities but I’m really worried that with an outbreak — which we haven’t seen a large outbreak in Mapleton yet — we could potentially be shut down by the province or by public health.”
Williamson said public health is looking at areas where vaccinations are lagging as places to provide additional resources, whether that's more information or more opportunities to be vaccinated.
