Local students face suspensions due to out-of-date immunization records

Thousands of students from Brant, Hamilton and Niagara could be facing suspensions because their immunization records are out of date.

Public health units say in many cases, the paperwork just needs to be updated, but in other cases, students may have missed their vaccinations during the pandemic.

Here in Hamilton, public health is offering catch up clinics this week for students who may have missed their shots due to access issues during Covid-19.

It’s just one of the ways the region continues to deal with the lingering effects of the global pandemic.

As the world dealt with Covid-19, Hamilton Public Health paused enforcement of student immunization rules, as some were unable to access the shots.

But this year enforcement will start again, beginning with high school students.

READ MORE: Hamilton Public Health delays suspension of high school students with overdue vaccines

Dr. Brendan Law says that big number of potential suspensions is explained by the pause in enforcement, and already many have updated their records.

“In January, notice was issued to just over 13,000 students,” Dr. Lew said. “Over half of those individuals have provided that updated record.”

And to help get the number even lower, public health is offering student catch up clinics all week at 110 King Street West.

“This is an opportunity for students to receive vaccinations that might have been missed,” Dr. Lew said.

In a similar pattern, when Niagara Region began its enforcement last year– after a pause due to Covid– it initially sent out 20,000 notices.

“We were able to, even through the suspension period, work with most parents to get down to around 100 or so,” Niagara’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Azim Kasmani said.

This year, Niagara has sent out over 3000 notices, but expects the actual number of suspensions to be low,

“Most parents are compliant,” Dr. Kasmani said.

And says those suspensions won’t actually happen for several months.

READ MORE: Hamilton pauses mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for workers

But in Brant County, the health unit is on a different timeline– 272 high school students were suspended Feb. 7, with seven still on suspension.

And 940 elementary students are set to be suspended on March 26.

“It is important to note not all students with incomplete vaccination records are not vaccinated, often it’s an issue that they have not yet been reported to us that they are,” Brant’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Rebecca Comley said.

A poll from the Angus Reid Institute released last week found that parental opposition to vaccination has increased since the pandemic.

The poll found one in six parents say they are “really against” vaccinating their kids.

It also found mandatory vaccination support has dropped from 70 per cent of parents in 2019 to 55 per cent this year.

“I don’t actually see strong evidence of an increase in anti-vaccine sentiment,” Dr. Kasmani said.

“It’s a little early for me to say whether or not there’s an increase in the number of individuals who are declining vaccination,” Comley said.

Just this week, Hamilton Public Health announced it is pausing the enforcement temporarily due to the ongoing cyberattack which is impairing operations and the accessing of records.

However, public health says enforcement will be carried out once it becomes feasible to do so.