Over 1,400 Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph students face suspension over incomplete vaccination records

Over 1,400 students under the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) system have incomplete vaccination records and are facing suspension orders Wednesday. These orders are issued by the medical officer of health, Nicola Mercer.

1,478 of the studentsare in elementary schools, and had been warned as far back as January byWDGPH. They were givena Mar. 6 deadline to get up to date but that had beenextended by two weeks.

Eight high school students have already received suspension orders between Feb. 14 and Feb. 15 depending on their school board.

"The school works with us. They help make sure that the students and family receive the order when that student isn't up to date with the immunization records or otherwise not compliant with the legislation," said Matthew Tenenbaum, the associate medical officer of health with WDGPH.

Tenenbaum pointed to the province'sImmunization of School Pupils Act,which legally mandates some vaccinations for students in Ontario schools who don't have exemptions.

He said that common vaccinations missing from recordsincludediphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, meningitis, and whooping cough.

"We really have, over the course of the past several months since January, made sure that any family who could be affected by this knows they could be affected, had multiple reminders, explanations of the consequences so that no one should be surprised when this comes into effect," Tenenbaum said.

Reasons for incomplete immunization records

There isn't one specific reason why students haveincomplete immunization records according to Tenenbaum, but he said that it can be attributed to somefalling behind during COVID-19. In some cases, vaccine hesitancy could be playing a role too, he explained.

He saidthat some students mayhave also been vaccinated for certain illnessesbut theirrecords haven't been updated.

"I will emphasize that all the required vaccines are the vaccines against things like whooping cough and measles and mumps that we've had as part of the regular immunization schedule in Ontario for years," he said.

Tenenbaum said that vaccinations can be booked with WDGPH or afamily doctor, but suspended students won't be permitted back in the classroom unless they completea full cycle of a given vaccine, not just the first dose.

Deadline for Waterloo students looming

The deadline for Region of Waterloo students is Mar. 27 for elementary schools and May 1 for high schools, butthe number of students with incomplete records dwarfthose figures in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph.

As of Mar. 5, over 10,000 students in the region have incomplete vaccination records, however thisis down from 18,643 the previous month.

A spokesperson with the region said that these are the most recent public figuresbut the medical officer of health will be updating council on the issue later on Wednesday.