Hundreds of Ontario elementary and secondary students have been suspended for not having up-to-date vaccination records.
As of Monday, March 17, 1,252 students in Hamilton remain suspended over their vaccination status, according to an email from the City of Hamilton.
Student suspension is part of provincial legislation that requires up-to-date vaccine records, according to Associate Medical Officer of Health Dr. Brendan Lew of Hamilton Public Health Services.
“The Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) is a Provincial legislation which requires students attending school in Ontario to have an up-to-date vaccination record or valid exemption on file with local Public Health,” he said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times.
”Enforcement under ISPA can include a suspension from school of up to 20 school days or until Public Health receives and validates the necessary vaccination records or exemptions,” he said.
Student suspensions had been put on hold for the last several years, according to Lew.
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He said students with incomplete immunization records were last suspended during the 2018/2019 year.
In the fall of 2024, 7,076 notices were sent to elementary students and 4,785 to secondary students, noting the students were either overdue for vaccines or their immunization records were not up to date, the Windsor Essex Health Unit said.
As a result, the health authority said that about 618 secondary students students had been suspended, and 129 elementary students remained suspended over “incomplete immunization records” as of March 17. Elementary students were suspended on March 3.
The health unit says the deadline for students’ immunization records to be updated was March 13.
“Students whose records are not updated with the WECHU according to the ISPA by this deadline will be suspended from school effective Monday March 17th, 2025,” it said on its website.
Students in the Wellington, Dufferin, and Guelph areas are also at risk of suspension.
Public health for the region notes that high school students needed to have their records updated by Feb. 7 to avoid suspension. Elementary students had until March 14, according to the WDG health authority website.
It says students with incomplete records can be suspended for up to 20 days.
Both the Child and Early Years Act and the Immunization of School Pupil’s Act have immunization reporting requirements for those attending public schools or child care in Ontario, according to WDG public health. Children are required to have an up-to-date immunization record or a filed exemption, its website says.
