Clock ticks down to suspensions for students without vaccination records
Posted Nov 26, 2015 07:40:42 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA — Time is running out for children and their parents who haven’t filed up-to-date immunization records.
Suspensions can begin as early as next month if a student’s vaccination records haven’t been updated.
“Either give us the information, if the child has already received the vaccine, or get the child immunized,” said Marie-Claude Turcotte, program manager for vaccine-preventable disease at Ottawa Public Health.
Letters were sent home and phone calls made to parents of children who have out-of-date or incomplete vaccination records. As of November, the number of incomplete records stood at 50,000.
“If they still don’t (update vaccination records) with that first letter that we send them, then the children can potentially be suspended from school,” Turcotte told 1310 NEWS.
Earlier this year, Ottawa Public Health switched over to a province-wide database to keep track of students vaccinations, and that means some students records are missing.
Turcotte says they don’t want to suspend students just because OPH doesn’t have a student’s records, as that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t vaccinated. If parents don’t have the records on-hand, they’ll have to track them down.
“They need to get it from their doctor’s office, and then make sure that we have the most up-to-date information,” said Turcotte.
Under Ontario law, all students have to be immunized against nine diseases or have a valid exemption.
Suspensions will be staggered between December and March.
