1,400 secondary students in Waterloo region suspended for out-of-date vaccination records
Region of Waterloo Public Health says 1,428 secondary students have been suspended as of Wednesday for out-of-date vaccination records.
Students are required to update their records under the Immunization of School Pupils Act, which requires proof of vaccination for diphtheria, polio, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox) and meningitis. If students are not immunized, they must have a valid exemption on record with public health.
The number of students suspended is down from more than 6,800 students who were warned they were at risk of suspension in early April.
The region's medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said in a release that vaccines are "important to maintain teenagers' health and protect them from disease."
"Reporting your vaccines or submitting an exemption will ensure a quick resolution of the suspension."
Students who have been suspended currently need to book an in-person appointment with public health to update their records.
If they have a vaccination appointment that has been booked in the near future, they can also report that to public health in order to return to school.
Public health warned because of the high number of people needing to update their records, it could take a day or two to process before students are permitted to return to school.
The region says the last time public health issued suspensions for outdated records was in 2019 and at that time, 517 secondary students were suspended.
In January, the region reported more than 32,000 elementary and secondary students needed to update their vaccination records. Public health said the COVID-19 pandemic had led to delays in students getting their vaccines or updating their records.
In March, more than 2,900 elementary students were suspended for out-of-date records. That dropped to 410 by April 8.
During a regional meeting on April 24, Dr. Wang said public health nurses called families of students "to resolve the suspensions."
"We will continue to encourage parents to become up-to-date or file exemptions before next year's suspension process to ensure that students are not suspended as we go through enforcement again next year," Wang said.
