Health Unit to suspend students with out of date immunizations

North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
News Release

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The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit has completed a review of the immunization records of every secondary school student in the district.

The Immunization of School Pupils Act gives the Health Unit the authority to suspend students if they do not have up to date immunization records.

If a student’s immunizations are not up to date, they will be suspended from school as of Wednesday, February 15.

Families of a student with an incomplete immunization record will have received a letter from the Health Unit in late December requesting the required information.

Then suspension notices were issued in late January to students who still have incomplete immunization records.

If you received a notice that your child’s information is missing, it does not mean your child will actually be suspended from school.

The Health Unit removes students from the suspension list when we receive the missing information.

If the missing information is provided to the Health Unit by 4:00 pm on Tuesday, February 14, the suspension will not be enforced.

If your child requires immunizations, they can receive those immunizations through their health care provider or by making an appointment at the Health Unit by calling 705-474-1400 or 1-800-563-2808, ext 2377 in North Bay or 705-746-5801, ext 3205 in Parry Sound.

If they receive their immunizations at their health care provider’s office, parents need to ensure the information is provided to the Health Unit.

If you have any questions, call the Health Unit at 705-474-1400 or 1-800-563-2808, ext. 2252.

You can also visit www.healthunit.biz for general information on childhood immunizations.

Quick Facts

Health units are required to maintain complete immunization records on every student registered in a school in their district.

Even though your child’s immunizations may be up to date, Health Unit files may not be.

Here’s how to update your child’s information:

o Physicians do not report to us what immunizations they give in their offices. You must get the information from their office and provide it to the Health Unit.

o Your child may have received their immunizations in a different area of Ontario. You may need to contact the health unit in that area to get the required information and submit it to us.

o If your child’s yellow card lists all the immunizations they have had, you can provide us with a copy. We can update our records and confirm their records are complete.

If your child does need immunizations, you can:

o Call the Health Unit to make an appointment for the required immunizations.

o Get your child immunized at his or her physicians’ office. However, you will still need to get that information to the Health Unit so that we can update our records.