Data error led to some under-reported COVID-19 vaccination rates, province says

The Department of Health says a mapping data error led to a "significant under-representation" of COVID-19 vaccination rates in the Tracadie area being released earlier this week.

A corrected map of vaccination rates across the province shows the Tracadie region has a rate of between 70.1 and 80 per cent as of Wednesday.

That's comparable to the rest of the province. As of Thursday, a total of 83.1 per cent of New Brunswickers age 12 and older are fully vaccinated.

The initial version of the map – sent to municipal councils Oct. 15 by Health Minister Dorothy Shephard and Minister of Local Government Daniel Allain, along with a letter urging them to help boost rates – indicated the Tracadie and Saint-Isidore area had the lowest vaccination rate in the province at between zero and 65 per cent.

"The Department of Health identified a data integrity issue in the recent mapping of vaccination rates" along the boundaries used, spokesperson Bruce Macfarlane said in an emailed statement.

"We had mistakenly utilized maps dating to before some of the most recent municipal amalgamations. This mistake led to a significant under-representation of vaccination rates in the Regional Municipality of Tracadie, amongst other smaller impacts," he said.

"We regret any potential impacts this might have created in this region."

The initial map had also underestimated vaccination rates in the Saint John, St. Stephen, Grand Falls and Minto region.

The revised map shows the lowest rates of 65 to 70 per cent are in the Kedgwick and Tracy areas.

Keith Chiasson, the Liberal MLA for Tracadie-Sheila, was relieved when he contacted the Department of Health Thursday morning and was given the correct rates for his region.

"People take the pandemic seriously, they do their duty as citizens to get vaccinated. So I can say that I am proud of the people of the Tracadie region," he said in French.

Chiasson said he had been "surprised and a little disappointed" earlier this week to think his region had the lowest rates in the province.

But then he remembered talking to the nurses at the vaccination clinic in Tracadie, where he volunteered.

They "have always told me that Tracadie is very busy," he said.

Area resident Mélanie McGraw is delighted to learn the vaccination rate is higher than originally reported by the department. 

"It's good news," she said.

"It's reassuring," said fellow resident Alfreda Vienneau, who admits to being alarmed by the low rates released earlier.