As vulnerable communities and the majority of the population in Canada remain underserved by the vaccine rollout, there’s been little discussion about priority designation for essential media workers
By Hailey Ritchie – J Source
Near the beginning of the pandemic, Yellowknife-based photographer Pat Kane began photographing residents through windows. Since then, as more information about safety measures and how to mitigate COVID-19 transmission emerged, he’s been able to travel within the territory and photograph people in person – but always with caution.
“I mean, you don’t want to be the person to bring anything into a community and impact the elderly or elders, especially within Indigenous populations. So it was always in the back of my mind and I was very cognizant of that, and very careful,” he said. “I would ask permission and maintain distance, wear masks, especially in health clinics and things like that.”
The Northwest Territories identified front-line media alongside teachers, grocery store clerks and librarians as early priority for the vaccine. The territory opened up vaccination access to front-line workers on March 1 and has since moved on to vaccinating the general population.
It is unique among Canadian jurisdictions in identifying reporters among priority groups.
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