South Asians in GTA at high risk for COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly devastating for the South Asian community in Peel Region – part of the greater Toronto area – where about half the residents identify as having ancestry from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal or Bangladesh.

With the city of Brampton as the epicentre, Peel Region emerged as a hot spot in Ontario beginning in Fall 2020, accounting for 22% of provincial cases of COVID-19. Peel comprises only 10% of Ontario’s population.

PHRI Senior Scientist Sonia Anand and her COVID CommUNITY- South Asian study team set out to measure the immune response to the COVID-19 vaccine and its safety in South Asian individuals.