Local health officials are joining Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health in reminding parents to get their children vaccinated before the start of the new school year.
Under Ontario law, certain vaccinations and documentation need to be up to date for children to attend school.
“London Middlesex has some good coverage rates. I think the report was comparing the immunization coverage rates generally for seven-year-olds and 17-year-olds. Of our seven-year-olds, we have 93 per cent who have up-to-date immunization and our 17-year-olds are about 77 per cent,” said Marlene Price, manager of Vaccine Preventable Diseases with the Middlesex-London Health Unit.
Price says if they can’t be vaccinated for medical or non-medical reasons, they need a valid exemption.
“They need to complete the exemption affidavit and have it notarized by a commissioner and on file at the health unit. But in that event, parents need to also realize that if there was an outbreak of a disease at the school, then those students would be excluded from school for their own protection until there’s no more threat of infection.”
She adds an outbreak of illness, like measles, mumps, or whooping cough, can be serious and even tragic for those not vaccinated.
“Until we have 100 per cent of our children immunized, the message needs to be there. Parents and health-care providers need to be aware of the importance of immunization and take every measure we can to ensure children are offered the opportunity to be immunized.”
Ontario’s vaccination schedule protects against 16 contagious illnesses.