Over 9000 local high school students urged to update immunization records

Earlier this month, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph public health sent out over 9000 notices to high school students who didn’t have their vaccine immunization records up to date.

A suspension date of February 14 has been put on the table for high school students if they don’t get their records in to public health by February 9 next year.

Rita Isley, WDG public health’s chief nursing officer and director of community health said 4000 students didn’t meet the Immunization of School Pupils Act and the other 5000 were students who were eligible for recommended vaccines, such as Hepatitis C or HPV vaccines, but don’t qualify for a suspension.

The Immunization of School Pupils Act states that all children attending school between ages four to 17 are required to be immunized. Public health agencies in Ontario are responsible for keeping updated records and enforcing immunization for all students.

“it’s important to understand that the reason we need this list is in the event we have a situation where a vaccine preventable disease outbreak occurs within a school, we have to exclude any students we don’t have an up-to-date record on for risk of them getting that disease,” said Isley.

“The more fulsome our records are, the less number of students we have to exclude from school during an outbreak,” said Isley.

Parents are being urged to get updated records to public health before the suspension date scheduled for next year. Isley said they made sure to pick a date that was after high school exams were finished.

“When they get their child vaccinated, it’s important for them to ensure that vaccination has been reported to public health to avoid getting these letters and causing concern and confusion,” added Isley.

She noted the main reason for so many students not having up to date immunization records is due to the pandemic.

“The biggest reason is from the pandemic. So there was a period throughout the 3-year pandemic where no one could get access to a primary care provider to receive vaccines. On top of that, a lot of kids have their vaccines it just hasn’t been reported to public health,” said Isley.

WDG public health is planning to host vaccine clinics in high schools starting December 1.