Any Ottawa parent with a child who’s missing immunizations should be expecting mail soon — if they haven’t already received it.
Since December, Ottawa Public Health has mailed about 11,000 incomplete immunization advisory letters to families with children missing one or more vaccines on their health record. Soon, the agency will send school suspension notices to those who have not responded.
Under the Immunization of School Pupils Act, Ontario students without a valid exemption need to be immunized against nine vaccine-preventable diseases to attend school. These vaccinations include innoculations against measles, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus, meningococcal diseases, pertussis, and varicella. This is happening as Ontario experiences the largest measles outbreak in many years with more than 140 cases of the highly infectious disease now reported.
Experts say that measles vaccinations, for example, have fallen to about 40 per cent during the pandemic, where before it was 85-90 per cent.
“Suspension notices have proven as an effective motive to promote compliance with ISPA and ultimately prevent vaccine-preventable outbreaks,” Trevor Arnason, the city’s interim medical officer of health, said during a recent meeting of the Ottawa Board of Health.
One way that people can get vaccines is through the city’s network of Neighbourhood Health and Wellness Hubs. Last year, they administered more than 23,000 routine childhood immunizations.
“Many of the people who are coming (to the hubs) are newcomers ensuring that their babies and their young ones are immunized,” Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Rawlson King said during the meeting.
The Neighbourhood Health and Wellness Hubs are a free drop-in service initially created to address access to COVID-19 vaccines. Since then, the hubs have evolved to serve other community needs.
The hubs provide free services for vaccinations, as well as dental, diabetes and cancer screenings to those who do not have a family doctor.
“This program is the result of the primary care crisis,” said Dr. Anna Wilkinson, family physician and general practitioner-oncologist.
“Many of the people who are coming (to the hubs) are newcomers ensuring that their babies and their young ones are immunized.”
— Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Rawlson King
The growing use of the hubs reflects a larger issue in the health system. According to the Ontario College of Family Physicians,about one in four Ontarians don’t have a family doctor.
There are 10 hubs strategically placed in Ottawa. “We started noticing that supports were lacking in certain areas,” Arnason said.
“I think one of the big challenges and what we’re seeing of why some of these neighbourhoods are more disadvantaged are larger numbers of newcomers from outside of the country,” Arnason said. “It’s very difficult to navigate the healthcare system, so these connections to immunizations have been really helpful for those populations.”
“It would be very interesting to see how this evolves over the next couple years,” said Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower. “It may become a model for other city departments to follow– to get out there to where people need the services rather than telling people to come to us.”
