Almost 1,900 elementary students in Wellington County, Dufferin County and Guelph will be suspended next week if their immunization records are not up to date.
Suspensions begin on April 5 for Wellington and Dufferin students and on April 6 for Guelph students.
“The two dates … were worked out with school boards and will help everyone deal with capacity issues given the large number of suspensions anticipated,” said public health spokesperson Chuck Ferguson.
More than 5,000 elementary students received a letter in January regarding pending suspensions.
As of March 29, about 38 per cent still had not updated their records.
Of the 1,897 students facing suspension, 470 are from Wellington County, with 112 from Centre Wellington, 77 from Mapleton, 72 from Erin, 71 from Minto, 60 from Wellington North, 50 from Guelph-Eramosa and 28 from Puslinch.
All students in Ontario are required to have up-to-date vaccinations or a legal exemption on file with public health.
The Immunization of School Pupils Act requires students in Ontario to be immunized against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease and pertussis (whooping cough).
Students born after Jan. 1, 2010 also need to be vaccinated for varicella (chicken pox).
Public health officials are asking parents and guardians to update vaccination records by April 1 to avoid suspensions for elementary-aged children.
“Now we are processing anyone who completes their record as quickly as possible but … it takes about two days once we get their full record,” Ferguson said. “Often it is done much faster.”
Public health will notify local physicians in anticipation of the influx of patients seeking vaccinations, Ferguson said.
Elementary students who are suspended but attend school on April 5 or 6 will remain on site until a parent or guardian arrives to pick them up.
High schools
Of the 5,000 high school students facing suspensions leading up to the March 22 deadline, 115 students had yet to update their records as of March 29.
Paper work
Ferguson said public health is prepared to deal with the high volumes of paperwork.
“We hired extra staff to make sure that any files that we currently have are fully up-to-date so we’re not suspending students who actually have submitted their records,” he said.
Visit www.wdgpublichealth.ca to update student immunization records.
