Vaccine records aren’t up to date for more than half of Ottawa students

Public health records for Ottawa schools show that among the cohorts assessed this year, more than half of the students did not have up-to-date immunization records, which experts say exposes an antiquated system that’s unhelpful in the race to boost vaccination rates. 

Ottawa’s public health unit said as of Oct. 12, about 16,000 students’ immunization records were not up to date in Grades 2 and 12. That’s more than 66 per cent of children in those age groups.

In Ontario, it’s up to parents to submit immunization records to public health units, which also send letters to households that haven’t done so or applied for exemption. Each year, local public health units select cohorts to assess for compliance.

Public health experts say the magnitude of students receiving these letters reflects that the cumbersome multi-step process, which often involves tracking down yellow cards or printouts from doctors’ offices, means public health officials have incomplete data. 

This comes at a particularly critical time for Canada, which is seeing vaccination rates slide as health experts tackle misinformation online. Canada is also poised to lose its status as a measles-free country due to an ongoing yearlong outbreak that has infected more than 5,000 people over the past year. 

If it does lose the status – which would happen later this year after meetings by the Pan American Health Organization – Canada would need to prove vaccination rates have improved to 95 per cent or higher and that it has robust surveillance to identify and contain cases in order to get its elimination status back.

Ontario’s top doctor Kieran Moore joined this chorus of calls last month ,but acknowledged that the challenge is integrating data from various health-care providers stored in different systems. The Ministry of Health has said it is working on a digital tool to give people access to their vaccine records and other personal health information, but an estimated timeline was not available.

Ottawa-based Dr. Kumanan Wilson has been advocating for a vaccine registry for close to two decades. 

The challenge at hand has stayed the same, except he said one element has changed that could make a difference: the resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles. 

“It’s something we never expected to see,” he said. “There may be perhaps a bit more of an urgency to approach this.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2025. 

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.