Over 1000 Students Facing Suspension Over Immunizations

Thursday, 7 January 2016 06:17

Parents and students have until February 11th to provide an up to date immunization record before school suspensions start to kick in.

Students in Oxford County are running out of time to get their immunization records up to date before school suspensions start to kick in.

Supervisor in Health Protection with the county Joanne Andrews says the notices have already been sent out and now it's up to the students and their parents to get the proper shots. "So at the beginning of December we sent out just over 1 600 letters to parents of students who had immunizations records that weren't up to date. So that could be that the student was due for an immunization and hadn't received it yet. Or it could be that we did not have an up to date immunization record on file for that student."

Andrews says the deadline before suspensions start is just over a month from now. "We're looking at a suspension date of February the 11th. By that date we need to have an up to date record for all of those students in order for those students to avoid being suspended - the suspension lasts for 20 days and as soon as the up to date immunization record is provided the student can return to class." She also reminds parents it is their responsibility to send the immunization records to the school - doctors are not required to do this, nor are the schools.

On a positive note, the numbers of notices handed out this year is down significantly from last year according to Andrews. "Last year we had a bit of a different experience because we had implemented a new immunization information system. We did send out a large number of notices last year and that was around 2 300 notices and this year we send about 1 600 notices out. We still have quite a few - so just over 1 000 is quite a few students outstanding."

One way to keep track of your child's immunization records is through the app ImmunizeCA. It will also notify you if the child needs a booster in the near future.