Sudbury newcomers face vaccine barriers as kids risk school expulsion

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 17, 2025 4:53 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

Newcomers and those without household doctors are having a hard clip accessing regular vaccines successful Sudbury, according to the section Francophone wellness centre. 

Northern Ontario wellness units regularly nonstop letters to pass families if their children's vaccinations are not up to date, and pass of imaginable schoolhouse expulsion.

Denis Constantineau, the CEO of Le Centre de Santé Communautaire du Grand Sudbury, says galore newcomers don't person entree to a household doc and his radical has been struggling to assistance them.

"Students are going to beryllium expelled," said Constantineau.

"We already cognize of 1 lawsuit wherever a pupil has been expelled due to the fact that he's missing 1 vaccine. And he's connected a hold database present to person the vaccine successful 2 months. These parents are going to person to enactment location with their kids, that's the bottommost line."

Constantineau said past week 1 of the centre's client navigators spent a time with 3 families going from 1 walk-in session to another, trying to get vaccines.

"In the 3 clinics they went to, 1 session level retired refused, saying it's nationalist health's mandate. And betwixt the different 2 clinics, not each the vaccines were available. So they got immoderate but not each the vaccines they needed," helium said.

Sudbury wellness portion nether pressure

Public Health Sudbury and Districts said it's experiencing pressures in getting radical caught up with vaccinations owed to students not getting regular shots during the pandemic and the existent measles outbreak successful confederate Ontario.

The request for wellness care has surged successful the aftermath of the pandemic, yet the availability of doctors and caregiver practitioners and different indispensable services has not kept pace, according to Sudbury nationalist wellness caregiver Nikki Lalonde.

"We are alert that determination is trouble to get immunizations successful a timely manner, and we are trying to enactment with our assemblage partners to supply and administer vaccines to guarantee that we are capable to amended work the assemblage arsenic a whole," she said. 

Lalonde stressed the urgent request for vaccination and advised those with wellness cards to interaction healthcare providers oregon cheque walk-in clinics, pharmacies, and question clinics for vaccines. For work-related vaccinations, occupational wellness departments whitethorn beryllium helpful.

Routine pupil immunizations are disposable done school-based clinics oregon superior healthcare providers. Students requiring catch-up vaccinations and lacking a household doc tin interaction their wellness portion directly.

Lalonde said nationalist wellness is currently prioritizing students who are not afloat vaccinated truthful they tin instrumentality to school.