Meet the family doctor personally vaccinating hundreds of Ottawans

One woman's efforts to fill the gaps of a broken health care system.
Nili Kaplan-Myrth receiving her COVID-19 vaccine in Ottawa. (Photo courtesy Nili Kaplan-Myrth)

Nili Kaplan-Myrth, a family doctor in Ottawa, has 1,400 patients and 13,000 followers on Twitter. She’s been outspoken in her efforts to make sure marginalized people—like frontline workers, single parents and refugees or those who have trouble accessing transportation—get the COVID-19 vaccine. She’s already organized two mass vaccination clinics in Ottawa, called Jabapaloozas, where she gave out more than 800 shots—not only to her own patients, but also to hundreds of others.

The good doctor has another Jabapalooza coming up in June… but only if she can get enough vaccines to pull it off. Meanwhile, her own patients between the ages of 12 and 17 won’t be able to get vaccinated in her office. Listen to The CJN Daily above to hear her discuss these problems and other issues with Ontario’s, and Canada’s, vaccine rollout.

What we talked about:

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.

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