Achi news desk-
Nearly 3,000 elementary school students in Waterloo Region were suspended Wednesday because their vaccination records were incomplete.
Initial notices were sent to parents and guardians in November and December. At that time, 27,567 students were at risk of exclusion.
Cambridge parent Sarah McKay said she was put on hold with the Waterloo District of Public Health for most of Wednesday after finding out her youngest son couldn’t go to school, despite the fact that her two children had receive up-to-date childhood vaccinations.
“My older son’s class sent the paperwork home to say we need your vaccination records and they warned us there would be a cut and suspension,” she explained.
McKay said she went online to update her two sons’ records that day, in early March.
“I have two separate references to say they were both entered and that was the last I heard until I got a call [Wednesday] around lunch from school saying that the little one wouldn’t be able to go back [Thursday],” he told CTV News. “When I spoke to the girl in public health, several families with several children said they were registering – she was accepting one of the children and not the other.”
McKaysa’s parents have been told they have to make an in-person appointment to update the record, but until then, her son can’t go back to school.
“We don’t know how far out those are [appointments] are being ordered, and hopefully he will get one before this batch fills up,” added McKay.
Public health told CTV News they are working through a large number of submissions and appreciate everyone’s patience as they confirm their records.
“Keeping these kids out of school is unfair,” McKay added.
Immunization of School Pupils Act requires all Ontario elementary and secondary school students to have proof of vaccination for diphtheria, polio, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox) and meningitis, or proof of exception.
The Waterloo Public Health Region told CTV News that the number of notifications sent out this school year is about three times more than a typical pre-pandemic year. It is worth nothing that the vaccination requirements were not enforced in recent years.
“We had taken a break because of the pandemic and we knew it was going to be a big year,” said Dr David Aoki, the region’s director of infectious diseases.
Just over 18,000 student vaccination records were still incomplete in February.
On Wednesday morning, 2,969 students were given suspension notices.
Aoki acknowledged that GPs are busy at this time of year and that the capacity in healthcare in general is limited.
“As long as you have proof of an [upcoming] date of immunization. . . we have been providing exemptions to students knowing that they are going to do that,” he added.
Public health also hosts additional clinics, by appointment only, at 99 Regina St. S. in Waterloo and 30 Christopher Dr. in Cambridge. Aoki said if parents make an appointment at these clinics, the student will be allowed to return to the classroom.
As for exemptions in the district, Aoki said just under one percent of students have medical exemptions and about three percent have exemptions based on philosophical grounds/statement of conscience, or parents opting out of a different vaccination schedule .
“We don’t want to delay [students],” he explained. “We want to update them and also remind parents that you need to have this picture. It’s important.”
The spread of measles
With a recent increase in the number of measles cases around the world, Dr Aoki stressed the importance of getting vaccinated.
“Measles is very contagious,” he explained. “It doesn’t take many people to be unprotected to start spreading very quickly.”
Unlike the flu and COVID-19 where the advice was to keep a distance of two meters from others and cover up to slow the spread, Aoki called measles a “floating virus” because it can stay in the air for Hours.
“For up to two hours after someone infected with measles leaves a room they were in, the virus is still present,” Aoki said. “The vaccine is the best protection against measles.”
