Ontario schools begin suspending students who aren't fully vaccinated

Hannah Alberga · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Apr 08, 2025 4:47 PM EDT | Last Updated: 21 minutes ago

Ontario schools are starting to contented suspensions to immoderate of the thousands of students who aren't afloat vaccinated, arsenic the dispersed of measles continues, giving caller urgency to calls for the state to digitize its immunization grounds system.

Toronto Public Health says astir 10,000 students are not up to day connected their vaccinations, and an archetypal radical of 173 students successful Grade 11 volition beryllium suspended Tuesday.

A full of 574 students were sent suspension orders, which volition proceed to rotation retired crossed Toronto precocious schools until May.

TPH says students tin debar suspension and instrumentality to schoolhouse by showing impervious of vaccination oregon completing a valid exemption.

Dr. Vinita Dubey, Toronto's subordinate aesculapian serviceman of health, expects "compliance volition transcend 90 per cent" aft each the notices are sent out. Current Grade 11 students missed retired connected school-based vaccinations successful Grade 7 owed to the COVID 19 pandemic, she added.

"Toronto Public Health's extremity is to assistance students drawback up connected their vaccinations and debar missing school, and it continues to connection enactment to amended immunization sum crossed the city," Dubey said successful a connection connected Tuesday.

Ottawa Public Health says astir 15,000 notices of incomplete immunization records were handed retired to students successful mid-January, and suspensions are taking spot from March to May. In Waterloo, much than 1,600 students were suspended past week.

Ontario urged to acceptable up physics registry

Under the Immunization of School Pupils Act, students indispensable beryllium vaccinated against assorted diseases including measles, whooping cough and tetanus.

However, astir radical successful the state inactive way their shots connected paper, which the Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee is encouraging the Ministry of Health to change.

The committee said successful a presumption connection that it "strongly urges" the state to make an physics immunization registry, which would regenerate the existent method of keeping way of shots connected yellowish paper.

That connection was published successful September, says Dr. Jeffrey Pernica, co-chair of the committee. Yet it's lone getting large attraction present due to the fact that of measles.

"It took a measles outbreak to truly item wherefore it's bully for individuals to beryllium capable to cognize what vaccines they've received," says Pernica, adding that determination would beryllium acold less suspensions if an physics immunization registry existed.

Ottawa-based Dr. Kumanan Wilson has been advocating for the alteration since 2011, erstwhile helium launched an app to way vaccinations. He's hopeful measles mightiness beryllium the propulsion that the provinces needs to pivot to a integer system.

The outbreak has infected 661 radical successful Ontario, chiefly unvaccinated children.

Because it is 1 of the astir contagious diseases successful the world, it requires vaccination sum of astir 95 per cent.

"Small gaps successful cognition connected vaccination sum tin effect successful outbreaks," Wilson said. 

Suspensions whitethorn beryllium owed to deficiency of records, doc says

At the moment, the immunization information the state has collected is mostly constricted to school-aged children. Wilson says that means information connected infants to six-year-olds is not comprehensive, of peculiar value with measles, which has resulted successful the hospitalization of 42 children.

Wilson says deficiency of due record-keeping mightiness besides beryllium starring to the pupil suspensions.

"It whitethorn not adjacent beryllium anti-vaccination attitudes. It whitethorn conscionable beryllium that radical don't know."

Ontario's measles outbreak has drawn planetary attraction with wellness officials successful New York issuing a question advisory past week that noted the province's spread.

The April 2 advisory stated, "Measles is lone a car thrust away!"