With about a month to go before classes resume for the fall semester, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has started to publish the COVID-19 vaccination rates for students in local high schools.
The “school vaccination” tab on public health’s web portal displays the rate of vaccination for each school in both the public and Catholic school boards, along with one private school.
Public health said it began sharing the information on July 22.
“Getting that information to the public helps everyone involved with our local schools — boards, staff, teachers, students, and families — make informed decisions as we head back to school this fall,” said spokesperson Danny Williamson.
“We believe in transparency wherever we can provide it and this is another place where we can get good data to the public.”
The data is updated daily and as of Wednesday, 13,854 students are enrolled for the 2021-22 secondary school year. About 75 per cent of all high school students are vaccinated with at least one dose and 59 per cent fully vaccinated.
Centennial Collegiate Vocational Institute in Guelph has the highest vaccination rate with 83 per cent partially vaccinated and 71 per cent fully vaccinated.
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Emmanuel Christian High School, a private school in Fergus, Ont., has the lowest with 30 per cent of students having received one dose and 15 per cent with two doses.
Across the Upper Grand District School Board, 75 per cent of all students have received at least one vaccine while 58 per cent have received two.
In the Wellington Catholic District School Board, 77 per cent of students have had one dose while 64 per cent are double-vaxxed.
WDG Public Health appears to be the first health unit in Ontario to publish vaccination rates among local high schools.
On Tuesday, the Ontario government announced that COVID-19 vaccinations will not be mandatory for students or staff, but those eligible were encouraged to get inoculated.