An Ontario public health unit has ordered the suspension of 1,624 elementary students for out-of-date vaccination records.
The Region of Waterloo Public Health issued the notice under the Immunization of School Pupils Act Wednesday morning.
“With the increase in measles cases and exposures, it is even more important that students are up to date with their immunizations to keep our community safe and healthy,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the region’s medical officer of health, said in a statement.
“Vaccination is the best way to ensure your family is protected against serious illness.”
The Immunization of School Pupils Act requires students to be vaccinated against the following diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease, pertussis (whooping cough); and for students born in 2010 or later, varicella (chicken pox); or submit an exemption form.
The act also requires public health bodies to maintain vaccination records for all private, public and Catholic school students in their respective areas.
Public health bodies have the authority to suspend students from school if they do not receive an up-to-date immunization record or a valid exemption, which must be provided by parents or guardians as health-care providers do not report those records.
Waterloo’s notice comes as Ontario finds itself during a measles outbreak.
The province’s chief medical officer of health said Friday that outbreak is likely to continue into the summer, but a stable rate of new cases is a hopeful sign it won’t worsen.
Measles is so contagious that one infected person can spread it to 16 others, but the province is not seeing that growth rate at the moment, Dr. Kieran Moore told The Canadian Press.
Last week there were just over 100 new cases and 120 new ones the week before that, he said.
Public Health Ontario says there have been 572 cases since the outbreak began in October — 453 of them confirmed and 119 probable. Of the 42 people requiring hospitalization, two have required intensive care, and 36 have been children — most of them unvaccinated.
Moore wrote in a memo to local medical officers of health earlier this month that the measles outbreak is “disproportionately” affecting some Mennonite, Amish and other Anabaptist communities due to under-immunization and exposure. The origin of the outbreak was a large gathering with guests from Mennonite communities in New Brunswick last fall, he wrote.
He said Friday that the “vast majority” of Ontario’s cases are among people in those communities, and local public health units are focusing on outreach to try to contain the spread. Unvaccinated infants, kids and teenagers in the Southwestern and Grand Erie public health units are most affected.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. The World Health Organization says the virus can remain active in the air or on infected surfaces for up to two hours.
It usually begins with a fever, cough, runny nose and red watery eyes, followed by a red blotchy rash that starts on the face and spreads to the body and limbs. The virus can lead to pneumonia, inflammation of the brain and death.
— with files from The Canadian Press