Lapse in kids shots record probed
Ministry looks into whether law was broken
Ontario’s Ministry of Health is looking into whether Ottawa Public Health broke the law when it scaled back surveillance of school vaccination records and halted enforcement efforts.
At a time of heightened concern about vaccination rates, Ottawa Public Health officials acknowledge they stopped sending suspension notices to students whose vaccinations were out of date during the 2013-14 school year and will not during this school year. They have also reduced monitoring efforts.
Under Ontario’s Immunization of School Pupils Act, health units are required to “assess, maintain records and report on immunization status of children attending schools,” according to David Jensen, spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.
Ottawa Public Health is required to comply and to report to the province if they are not complying.
“To date, Ottawa Public Health has not submitted such a report,” Jensen told the Citizen, adding: “The ministry has not been informed of a compliance variance and will be following up with Ottawa Public Health.”
Sherry Nigro, manager of health promotion and disease prevention at Ottawa Public Health, said a decision was made to put a pause on suspension notices to students until a new computer system to track vaccination records is fully working.
Staff have been working to make sure the new system has up-to-date information and, in the process, have been updating some immunization records, but she acknowledged while the process is under way there is a less accurate picture of vaccination levels among schoolchildren in Ottawa.
Ottawa Public Health is working on a new immunization strategy, Nigro added. Combined with a new record keeping system, that should give a more accurate picture of vaccination levels. Until then, she said parents should not worry.
“I would not want people to feel insecure or feel that sending their kids to school is going to be dangerous. It isn’t.”
Nigro said OPH is not the only health unit feeling the pressure to cope with changes and new demands when it comes to immunization, something the province is aware of.
“This is not a unique Ottawa situation.”
Measles outbreaks have been on the rise in recent years. This year’s outbreak in Ontario and across North America has prompted both Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins and federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose to make pleas for parents to vaccinate their children.
Dr. Kumanan Wilson, research chair in Public Health Policy at the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, said it is important to monitor vaccination rates to identify overall coverage and whether there are specific areas where rates are below what is needed to create herd immunity.
“If rates are sub-optimal, it could identify an area at risk for an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease. It also identifies areas where public health could focus their efforts for improving vaccination coverage.”
Accurate information is crucial when it comes to measles, he said, “which is highly infectious and requires coverage rates as high as 95 per cent to prevent outbreaks.”
Ottawa Public Health has also stopped monitoring and checking immunization records at licensed daycares in the city, something it is also required to do under provincial law.
Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson, who has spoken out about the importance of vaccinations, said Ottawa Public Health, which gets most of its funding from the province, has a tight budget, but she said tracking vaccination rates is important.
“If we have a better idea of vaccination rates, we would have a better idea what the risk is.”
It likely isn’t a big problem in the short term, she said, but it would be in the longer term. “We have to look at how we can start the process of getting it done.”
Students are required to show proof of immunization — or request an exemption — when they enter school. But records of vaccines and boosters received once they begin school are often spotty because many parents don’t realize they have to contact public health with the information.
In past years, public health officials have assessed students by grade to make sure vaccine records were up to date. Students whose records were not received warning letters. Those who failed to bring in proof of vaccination or get vaccinated were suspended until they did. Nigro said until Ottawa Public Health has a new more accurate database, it will not send suspension notices to students whose vaccine records are not up to date.