Close to 50 area students have been suspended from school for failing to be properly immunized.
Deanna Thompson, immunization program manager with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, said that, as of Wednesday morning, 47 students within the agency's large geographical catchment area can't attend school until their immunization records are updated.
Earlier this year, the health unit mailed out more than 2,000 suspension orders home to students in Grades 2 and 8 reminding parents that their child’s immunization information needed to be updated before Feb. 27.
“We started sending notices out and reviewing immunizations last June,” Thompson said, pointing out that review led to nearly 4,600 notices being sent to parents whose children attend one of the region’s 177 elementary schools.
“The second notice went out in November and in mid-January families who still hadn’t responded received one of 2,100 suspension notices. Families had five weeks to respond.”
Those failing to respond led to 333 student suspensions being enforced last Friday.
“And as of this (Wednesday) morning, we were down to 47 students who are out on suspension,” Thompson said, noting the health unit has been offering additional immunization clinics at its offices to help parents whose children are missing certain vaccinations.
“Our goal is to have these students in schools. Overall, I think it’s been successful given the number of notices we sent out in June.”
In Ontario, under the Immunization of School Pupils Act, up-to-date immunization records are required for all students and it is the responsibility of a parent to report immunizations to their health unit.
Thompson said often times parents expect their primary healthcare provider will have forwarded their child’s immunization data to the health unit, but that doesn’t always occur.
“That’s one of the problems we see,” said Thompson, noting parents are often surprised to receive notices because they figured their doctor had taken care of it.
Parents opting to not have their children immunized for philosophical or other reasons must attend a session at the health unit with a public health nurse. The sessions, which were instituted by the province two years ago, include an introduction and a 30-minute educational video produced by the Ministry of Health followed by the nurse answering any questions the parents might still have.
After completing the session, parents receive an affidavit that must be notarized and returned to the health unit before their child can be readmitted to school.
“Parents might choose not to have their child immunized,” she said, "but we have a fairly low non-immunization rate at about three to four per cent.”
Parents can also easily update their children’s immunization records here or by calling the health unit’s Health Connection line 721-7520 or (877) 721-7520.
