Just under 1,000 high school students are facing suspension on April 12 due to incomplete immunization records.
At the March 7 Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health meeting, medical officer of health Dr. Nicola Mercer announced that of the 2,611 high school students who had incomplete medical records in November, only 979 are still outstanding.
The initial vaccination notices were sent home on Jan. 4 and 5.
Public health will be running clinics in high schools leading up to the April 12 deadline.
“That’s one of the advantages of having high school students is that they are able to give consent and we found that last year when we ran our high school clinics that they were very popular,” Mercer said.
“We had a large number of students that got a vaccine that way because it’s easy and convenient for them.”
However, she also said there were high school and elementary students and guardians who said they missed public health’s suspension notices.
Director of community health and wellness Rita Isley said students facing suspension will be contacted at least three times by public health and/or the school before they are no longer allowed to go to school.
“We start off with robocalling the students that remain outstanding after a period of time after we’ve sent them notices and then … we’ll also communicate with the principal around ‘we’re having troubles getting a hold a Johnny’s parents’ or what have you,” Isley said.
“And they will help facilitate that communication so there are times when our nurses will call directly to the homes or the principal will depending on the circumstance.”
Mercer also provided an update on elementary school suspensions. Of the 1,077 elementary students suspended on Jan. 31, there were only four remaining as of Feb. 27.
“You have to remember that the way schools suspensions work is you suspend them and even if they do absolutely nothing after 20 days the children are allowed to return to school anyways,” Mercer said.
