400 students suspended as immunization chart deficient

SOME OF THOSE DISEASES CAN MAKE YOU VERY ILL OR EVEN KILL YOU.

WINDSOR, ONT. • Nearly 400 Windsor high school students who failed to provide up-to-date immunization records have been suspended.

Judy Allen, manager of the Healthy Schools program, said the WindsorEssex Health Unit sent notices to students in December and February warning that their immunizations records were incomplete.

“As well as that we did high school clinics, we did Saturday clinics, we’ve had walk-in clinics for the last couple weeks,” she said.

“We tried to do everything we could to prevent kids from getting suspended.”

The health unit said 388 students born in 2000 and 2001 will be suspended for up to 20 days.

The suspensions will be lifted as soon as the health unit receives updated records.

The suspensions were the latest move in a fiveyear plan to assess every student’s immunization records.

For this round, the health unit chose students born in 2000 and 2001, most of whom are in Grade 11 or 12.

About 4,300 students received notices in December 2017 that their immunization records were in- complete. In February, final notices were mailed to the 1,806 students who still had not provided the proper records.

Ali Abouzeeni, one of the suspended students, said Tuesday that one more reminder would have been nice.

“It’s a safety issue,” said Abouzeeni, a Grade 11 student who didn’t recall receiving the previous notices.

“But 20 days is a little extreme. I think they should have told the people that needed them two days or three days in advance that you got to get them or you’ll be suspended.”

If a student still hasn’t provided updated records by the end of the suspension period, the medical officer of health can re-issue it for another 20 days.

“It is a law in Ontario that school-aged kids, in order to go to school they either have to be up to date with their immunizations or have a valid exemption on file,” said Allen.

“The reason for it is to protect the health of students in our community. If someone comes into the school with a vaccinepreventable disease and kids aren’t up to date with their immunizations, it can spread through the school very quickly. Some of those diseases can make you very ill or even kill you.”