Ensure school-aged kids’ shots up to date: Chatham-Kent Public Health

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Chatham-Kent Public Health is calling on parents and guardians to ensure their school-aged kids’ immunization records are up-to-date, to avoid suspension from school.

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The health unit has issued 1,734 first-notice letters to parents and guardians of students with incomplete immunization records.

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Under Ontario’s Immunization of School Pupils Act, students must be vaccinated – or have a valid exemption – for tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease (meningitis), and varicella (chicken pox).

The letters are a first step, the  unit said. If records remain incomplete, a suspension order will issue in the first week of February. Students who still don’t meet Act requirements by March 10 will be suspended.

Immunization records are not automatically shared with the health unit by health-care providers, the health unit said. So parents may get a letter even if their child is fully vaccinated.

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“Approximately a quarter of the first notices were mailed to families with children starting kindergarten,” said Shanker Nesathurai, Chatham-Kent’s medical officer of health.

“The beginning of school comes with a lot for parents to remember,” he added. “As part of getting ready, we want to remind parents to forward their child’s immunization information to CK Public Health before the start of school.”

Nesathurai told Monday’s board of health meeting that 180 people in Chatham-Kent contracted measles during a provincewide outbreak last year.

“The majority were children; some people were hospitalized,” he said, noting about seven per cent of Ontario measles patients were hospitalized.

“Measles is a serious illness and it can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and, in rare cases, death,” Nesathurai said.

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The best protection against measles is vaccination, he said. “We (at C-K Public Health) want to prevent people from getting sick.”

The vast majority of people are vaccinated, it just hasn’t been reported to public health, Nesathurai said. For those who aren’t vaccinated, “This is a chance to get caught up.”

The latest figures indicate 95 per cent of Chatham-Kent 17-year-olds are up-to-date with their vaccines, he said. And he’d argue one reason measles didn’t spread widely locally was because so many here are vaccinated.

The letter is a reminder to parents and guardian to make sure their children’s vaccines are updated.

“It’s one way all of us can contribute to minimizing the transmission of communicable diseases and it’s also one way that we can all contribute to advancing the health of the community,” Nesathurai said.

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DID YOU GET A REMINDER LETTER?

The health unit asks parents or guardians of school-aged kids who get a first-notice letter to take these steps to ensure their children comply with Ontario law and avoids suspension from school:

Review children’s immunization records to confirm they’re complete.