Hamilton Public Health tells CHCH News families should expect vaccination enforcement in schools starting this fall.
Local health officials say parents can expect to receive some notices soon about updating their children’s vaccination records, starting the next school year or suspensions could be issued once the fall semester is underway.
Enforcement took a suspension itself back in the spring — when city hall encountered a cyberattack that brought down IT operations and its databases.
Public health says a reporting tool is available online and students are required to inform officials about their current immunizations for deadly diseases like measles.
This follows the death of a unvaccinated child under five after contracting a measles infection.
Hamilton Public Health says the program is a priority and believes the pandemic played a role in expired records. They say students who continue to have out-of-date records, could see a suspension of up to 21 days.
“We will be working under the act on sort of a periodic basis and certainly that period of review or subsequent enforcement could happen in subsequent months or years when that process is undergone again,” said Dr. Brendan Lew with Hamilton Public Health.
“But really, we do see a positive impact of this work in terms of getting these up-to-date records and a vast majority of students are able to provide the records that vaccinations have been received or in another manner that’s with the accordance with the act.”
The agency says that if a suspended student is able to provide updated records, then suspension can be rescinded.
No date has been set on when the next notice will be, but health officials say families can expect them in the coming weeks.