More than 3,600 elementary students in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph could be suspended if they don’t submit their required vaccine records by March 20.
Vaccines required under the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) include those for diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, Meningococcal disease, Pertussis and Varicella (for students born on or after Jan.1, 2010).
There are 2,990 elementary students in the region who are either unvaccinated or haven’t submitted records for the measles vaccine in particular, which is circulating in Ontario right now, according to medical officer of health Dr. Nicola Mercer.
But the majority likely just haven’t provided their records to public health, Mercer said earlier this week at a board of health meeting.
The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, along with other ISPA vaccines, are required for students to stay in school; not getting vaccinated can result in suspension.
Elementary students are required to have their vaccines by March 20 or they will be suspended from school.
“If you’ve got children or grandchildren who got a suspension notice saying they’re missing vaccines, it’s not too late,” Mercer said. “I encourage you to please hurry up and get those vaccines for your children.”
In Ontario, the recommendation is to have two doses of the measles vaccine.
However, parents can also apply to have their children exempt from the vaccine. In Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, there are 1,049 elementary students with a religious or conscientious exemption to the vaccine.
This number might seem high, but is only slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels. In the 2018/2019 school year, there were 1,007 exemptions on file for measles.
Of the children with exemptions, Mercer said they are “at risk, and sometimes they do congregate in the same school, which would make transmission even easier.”
One dose of the measles vaccine provides 93 per cent immunity, she said, while the second provides 97 per cent immunity.
“It can be a disease that causes some serious implications,” she said. “There is a small but real mortality rate. Children can have lifelong consequences including eye trouble, blindness, neurological damage as a result of the measles virus. So It’s not a benign disease.”
Students who have an exemption from the vaccine can continue going to school without it. However, if there is a measles outbreak in their school, “those children will be excluded from school for a very long time,” she said.
“It’s not just three weeks your kid’s out of school, your child could actually be out of school for maybe six, seven or eight weeks, depending on how measles is spreading,” Mercer said. “If you have one case in a school and your child’s not vaccinated, the chances are your child is going to get measles. You cannot even be in a different classroom. That’s how infectious it is.”
From November 2023 to March 6 2024, public health administered 477 doses of the MMR vaccine.
In mid-February 150 Guelph and Wellington County high school students were suspended for lack of immunization records. As of early March, Mercer said there are only nine unvaccinated high school students in the region without exemptions.
