Local school boards back new initiative on immunizations
Parents, too, laud plan ‘to protect children from preventable diseases’
Calgary school boards and parents are buying into an Alberta Health initiative to raise awareness about immunization, and ensure schools are provided with more vaccination records.
Bill 28, introduced this week by Health Minister Sarah Hoffman, proposes amendments to the Public Health Act allowing school records to be matched against Alberta Health’s vaccination data, ensuring school officials can access records quickly in the case of a serious outbreak.
Families whose children’s records show vaccinations are being refused can also expect to get letters and then phone calls from Alberta Health officials to educate them about the importance and benefits of immunization.
“What an excellent initiative to protect school-aged children from preventable diseases,” said Barb Silva, spokeswoman for the Support Our Students advocacy group.
“It will not only be more efficient by knowing ahead of a breakout which children are not protected by vaccinations, but serves as a wraparound service for parents who may not be aware of the health resources available to them.”
Silva explained immigrants, new Canadians and even struggling single parents may miss regularly scheduled vaccination appointments. But Bill 28 can help close the gap between health care and education, reaching out to parents who may need more information and support.
Althea Adams, with the Calgary Association of Parent and School Councils, agreed the program will be an effective way to educate parents unaware of the importance of immunization, and also remind those who may have forgotten.
“Parents are so busy these days, we’ve got so many things we’re always thinking about, so many things to go to. I can see why it might be easy to forget.”
Currently when an outbreak occurs in a school, health officials have to track down student vaccination records after the fact. Two years ago, several Calgary schools were faced with a measles outbreak.
Students who could not provide proof of immunization were forced to stay at home for up to 10 days, until after the outbreak had run its course.
The school time missed was particularly difficult for high school students, where the fast-paced curriculum makes it difficult to catch up on even two or three days of missed class time.
Hoffman’s bill will give Alberta Health officials advance access to records to compile lists of students with spotty immunization records, allowing them to quickly identify children at risk and hopefully prevent outbreaks before they occur.
Health officials would contact parents of children with incomplete records to request documentation of their shots. They will try to persuade parents of unvaccinated children to get their shots, and explain that in the case of an outbreak, their kids will be required to stay home for up to two weeks.
Alberta Health has confirmed that immunization records are still incomplete for about 15 to 25 per cent of school-aged children.
Joy Bowen-Eyre, chair of the Calgary Board of Education, said public schools are completely behind the initiative.
“The health and safety of our students is critically important to the Calgary Board of Education, and we are supportive of this initiative.”
Officials with the Calgary Catholic School District added that while the legislation still allows schools to let parents decide whether they want to vaccinate children, it also creates an atmosphere of increased awareness and education around immunization.
“We support parents making their own choices, but we’re prepared to take the directive from Alberta Education and Alberta Health on this initiative,” said Karen Ryhorchuk, CCSD spokeswoman.
Alberta Health officials have said to prevent a disease such as measles from spreading, vaccination rates of about 90 to 95 per cent are required. In 2015, the provincewide immunization rate by age two for measles, mumps and rubella was only 87.1 per cent.
Karen Grimsrud, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said the province’s vaccination rates are below the level needed to provide herd immunity.