Number of non-compliant students dropped after suspension notices
A push by the Niagara region's public health department to increase student vaccination rates has worked.
Manager of preventable-disease programs Leslie Alderman says it went from 80 to 93%, after reviewing records for over 71,300 students.
By the end of February, over 8,700 students were given suspension orders with an April compliance date. "At the beginning of the suspension period, over 1,800 students had incomplete records on file. However, by the end of the 1st week of the suspension period, this number decreased to 670 students."
She says those numbers can change as more students become due for vaccination.
Even though there is greater compliance numbers, that could change as some students become due for vaccinations.
Program Specialist Nicole Luciano noted other pressures this year. "Including a larger school age cohort, changes in provincial polio vaccine requirements resulting in more students being overdo for the polio vaccine, challenges to the vaccine supply, and significant postal delays due to postal disruptions during the review period hindered us."
Councillor Haley Bateman noted many languages in a given school, meaning more hinderance in vaccinations.
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