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Ottawa Public Health is stepping up its vaccine surveillance program in schools, including threatening suspensions, as it tries to increase immunization rates which have fallen dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December, OPH will send letters to parents and guardians of children ages 7 and 17 (those born in 2007 and 2017), urging them to get the required vaccines for school or to bring their immunization records up to date.
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“We need this information so we know which children are protected and which children may be potentially at risk in the event of an outbreak,” Ottawa’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Vera Etches, said Monday at the Ottawa Board of Health Meeting.
“The goal of this immunization surveillance is to promote population-level immunization coverage rates that protects individuals and school populations.”
The letters will have information about the required immunizations as well as instructions on how to get the needed shots and update records. Those who don’t comply will get a second letter in the new year including a suspension date if the records remain incomplete.
“The letters aim to provide parents and guardians with time to access the immunizations required or share their information with us so that students are not suspended,” Etches said. “Ottawa Public Health will be working closely with school boards and parents and guardians to update the records and provide access to vaccine services.”
Pre-pandemic, about 17 per cent of students either lacked the necessary immunizations or had incomplete immunization records, OPH says in a report delivered to the board. Its vaccine surveillance program was usually able to bring compliance up to about 95 per cent.
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But the pandemic played havoc with those numbers. Though OPH has blitzed schools the past two years with vaccination campaigns, some 38 per cent of students, or 14,500, currently have incomplete records, the report says.
In 2023, immunization clinics were held at 26 schools in 20 neighbourhoods and 961 doses of vaccine were administered. In 2024, the program was stepped up with 3,329 doses administered across 70 clinic locations. Both blitzes targeted low socioeconomic areas where immunization rates have been low and did not threaten suspensions.
This year, students who aren’t in compliance won’t be allowed into school until their records are complete or up to a maximum of 20 days.
Under Ontario’s School Pupil Immunization Act, children, unless they have a valid exemption, are required to be vaccinated for nine diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease and, for those born in 2010 or later, varicella (chicken pox).
Immunizations and immunization information is available through family health care providers, Ottawa Public Health and neighbourhood health and wellness hubs.
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