6,819 students in Waterloo Region issued suspension orders for not having up-to-date vaccines

Suspension orders for 6,819 secondary students have been issued by Region of Waterloo Public Health for not having up to date vaccine records.

According to public health, those students will be suspended from school if the records are not updated or no valid exemption is presented before Tuesday, April 30 at 4:30 p.m. Suspensions would start Wednesday, May 1.

The region said the majority of these secondary school students are missing one or both of:

• Meningococcal ACYW-135 vaccine
• Teen booster of Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis (Tdap) - Required 10 years after the previous dose (usually given between four and six years of age)

“If a parent has any questions about ‘why did I get this letter, I don’t understand. I think my child is up to date,’ give us a call. We would rather resolve the issue now than wait until the child is suspended or the student is suspended, and say ‘oh what’s going on here,’ right?” said David Aoki Director of Infectious Disease, Sexual Health and Harm Reduction at the Region of Waterloo.

In order to avoid suspensions for secondary school-aged kids, parents and guardians are told to book an appointment or submit updated records online. Alternatively, parents or guardians can submit a valid medical or philosophical (statement of conscience exemption) online or in person. Anyone who files a philosophical exemption must complete an online education session before receiving a certificate.

“While we continue to work with families to resolve the remaining elementary school suspensions, we urge secondary school student families who have received a suspension notice to act quickly to ensure vaccination records are updated before May 1,” said Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, Medical Officer of Health for the Region of Waterloo in a news release. “Students who are not vaccinated are at an increased risk of severe infections and spreading them to others.”

The region issued suspension orders for elementary students without up-to-date vaccine records on April 8. It said 410 elementary students remain suspended. Parents who want to resolve this can arrange an appointment with public health. It said staff are working to resolve outstanding students as quickly as possible.

In January, the region sent out just over 10,000 notices to post-secondary parents and guardians. The region said it is seeing elevated numbers of students not reporting. The region said typically it sends out notices each year, but because of the pandemic, it hasn’t done so since 2019.

According to the Immunization Schools Pupils Act, it is the duty of parents or guardians to report vaccination records to public health. The act, allows local health units to suspend students up to 20 days.

“Don’t wait the 20 days. It’s not a value judgement on our part, we’re just following the act,” Aoki said.

Usually when the region sends out notices, around two thirds to 75 per cent of those involved have the vaccines, but haven’t reported it. The region said this year, about three times the normal yearly amount of orders were issued for elementary students.

“It’s not a concern, I think with elementary they got the shots, they just hadn’t reported them. Generally with elementary too, most times we get the first record from a parent when they register for kindergarten, but because the kids who registered for kindergarten was during COVID, we weren’t actively pursuing those records. So it was a lot more of record chasing,” Aoki said.

Aoki said for secondary students, the number of orders issued was about two times the usual amount.

“Which is a good sign, it means they’ve stayed caught up. There’s a lot less to then with high school to deal with than elementary,” Aoki said.

The region said most students get their Meningcoccal vaccine in grade 7, but the pandemic kept that from happening. Clinics have been offered in schools this year for students to get up to date. Aoki said there are still multiple appointments available for students to get up to date.