Over 1,000 elementary students could be suspended from local schools as of Jan. 31 due to incomplete immunization records.
Students throughout the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) catchment area who were missing required vaccines under the Immunization of School Pupils Act were sent letters in November asking them to receive their immunizations and submit up-to-date records by Jan. 26 or face suspension.
“Public Health and school boards are required to enforce the immunization requirements to protect school-aged children from diseases that can have serious complications,” said Dr. Nicola Mercer, medical officer of health and CEO of WDGPH.
To attend school, students must be immunized against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease and pertussis (whooping cough).
Students born after Dec. 31, 2009 also need to be vaccinated for varicella (chicken pox).
About 4,000 letters were sent out in November, according to WDGPH communications director Chuck Ferguson.
As of Jan. 29 he said there are still 1,139 elementary students throughout Wellington, Dufferin and Guelph with incomplete immunization records.
Of those students, 310 are from Wellington County schools.
“Now a few of those people waited until the last minute on Friday to update so we’ll just make sure those people are taken off, so that number’s going to change a little bit,” Ferguson explained in a Jan. 29 interview.
Those students with incomplete records were given a letter on Jan. 30 and were suspended from school as of Jan. 31.
“They’ll be suspended for up to 20 days,” Ferguson said. “We’ll be in touch with the families or with the students.
“We’ll work with them, their doctor’s office, they can come in and be seen at public health and we do everything we can to get them back in the school.”
After the 20-day suspension period, Ferguson said outstanding incomplete records will be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
“Maybe they were out travelling for several weeks and just haven’t had a chance to do this yet or whatever their individual circumstances is,” Ferguson said.
“We can re-suspend them, but to date I don’t think we have done that. Between the school, the parent, we work hard to get everybody up to date.”
Parents or guardians who choose not to vaccinate their children must sign a conscientious objection.
“The new rule this year, put out by the Ministry of Health, is before you can have a conscientious objection on file, you have to do about an hour-long vaccine education with public health and speak to a public health nurse,” Ferguson said.
“That’s so that those who have decided not to be vaccinated are fully informed about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.”
Ferguson also said doctors must send a medical exemption for students who cannot be vaccinated.
Leading up to the Jan. 26 deadline, Ferguson said public health was offering special clinics. Now, however, no extra clinics will be offered.
“Parents and students can come to any of our ongoing clinics, but we have to schedule them in with all the other clients that we treat,” Ferguson said. “But we make it a priority to get them in as soon as we can.”
Come April, as many as 2,611 local high school students with incomplete immunization records will also be facing 20-day suspensions.
Ferguson said high school students facing suspensions in Wellington, Dufferin and Guelph were sent notices during the first two weeks of January.
They must update their records by April 6 to avoid suspension and public health will be offering clinics in individual schools.
Students with incomplete records will then be notified on April 10 and suspensions will begin on April 11.
This is the first year public health has looked at the immunization records of every student within its catchment area.
“Traditionally what we did is we audited a different grade each year, but now, according to the province’s new mandate, we have to assess every student,” Ferguson said.
“It will drop every year.
“We sent out less letters to high school students this year that we did last year.”
