Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Background: Influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rates in older adults fall below the proposed target of 80%. Being an immigrant may be associated with lower uptake of both vaccines, but limited efforts have been made in the Canadian context to explore such disparities. Therefore, we examined the association between immigrant status and uptake of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines among older adults as well as the relative importance of immigrant status in predicting uptake of both vaccines. Methods: Using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, we descriptively analyzed uptake of both vaccines by immigrant status and used Poisson regression models with robust standard errors to estimate the associations of immigrant status and other key equity stratifiers with vaccination. Importance of various determinants, including immigrant status, in predicting both vaccinations were assessed using random forest algorithms. Results: Immigrant participants reported lower uptake of both influenza vaccine in the past 12 months and pneumococcal vaccine ever. Prevalence of influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations were both lower among immigrant participants compared to non-immigrant participants. Immigrant status was among the 10 most important predictors of pneumococcal vaccination, but among the less important predictors of influenza vaccination. Interpretation: Overall, we found disparities in influenza and pneumococcal vaccination by immigrant status among older adults in Canada. Further studies on vaccine uptake and decision-making among marginalized communities, including immigrants, are warranted to equitably improve vaccine uptake.