Hundreds more Hamilton students out of class for vaccine suspensions
More than a thousand Hamilton students missing vaccination records were suspended in what public health has said is the final wave for the school year.
On Friday, 1,215 elementary students at Catholic schools, as well as students at French and private schools, were removed from class, associate medical officer of health Dr. Brendan Lew said in an email.
Seven hundred of this group remained suspended as of Monday.
This is the third round of post-pandemic enforcement, which numbers show has been effective in ensuring records are up to date.
Of the 3,197 Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board elementary students missing records in January, 76 hadn't complied following suspensions of up to 20 days, the maximum time permitted under the Immunization of School Pupils Act.
Among public and Catholic high school students, 316 were still missing records after 20-day suspensions, down from 7,615 in March.
To comply with the act, Ontario students must submit proof of vaccination against nine illnesses — diphtheria, mumps, tetanus, polio, rubella, pertussis, varicella (if born after 2010), measles and meningococcal disease — to public health units, or request an exemption for medical or religious or philosophical reasons.
As of late March,
4.5 per cent
of Hamilton students were exempt, up from less than 2.5 per cent about a year ago and nearly three per cent before the pandemic in 2018-19.
It's a 'worrisome' figure, Dawn Bowdish, a professor in the department of medicine at McMaster University, said at the time.
The March rate was lower among elementary students at 3.9 per cent, and higher among secondary students at 6.3 per cent.
About
six per cent
are exempt in Haldimand-Norfolk, the location of a measles outbreak of more than 100 cases, The Spectator reported in March.
The highly contagious disease continues to spread in Ontario, with one case confirmed in Hamilton earlier this year.
In Brantford and Brant County, the exemption rate is lower at about four per cent.
Students without records or an exemption return to school after 20 days and 'would be subject to future enforcement' in future school years, Lew said.
Public health will continue to remind these families to update their records.
Planning for next year is 'ongoing,' he said, noting that elementary cohorts that didn't undergo enforcement this year, which includes those born between 2013 and 2016, will be prioritized.
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