Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

BC GOVT NEWS -- Mandatory reporting is part of the ongoing plan to increase immunization rates for all vaccine-preventable diseases


The Province is implementing this mandatory reporting requirement through the Vaccination Status Reporting Regulation. Parents and guardians will be expected to provide public health units with immunization records for students enrolled in the provincial school system.

“In the wake of the global measles outbreaks this spring, B.C. is implementing
several measures to protect children and families from this and other communicable diseases through improved immunization,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “Starting this school year, parents and guardians will be expected to provide the immunization status of their children to their local public health unit,”.

“This mandatory reporting of the immunization status of students will ensure the public health system is prepared in the event of an outbreak. Furthermore, with the up-to-date records, public health can reach out to families with children behind on their immunizations and provide an opportunity to catch them up, as well as discuss any concerns with parents.”

Most parents are already in compliance with this requirement, so they will not need to do anything further when the new school year starts. Parents or guardians with an incomplete or missing record will be contacted by public health on how to provide their child’s immunization information if it is needed, plus receive information on upcoming school-based or community health clinics where their child can receive immunizations if they require them.

Public health officials will review school enrolment records in late August and into October 2019 to match them against immunization records for kindergarten-to-Grade 12 students that currently exist in the provincial immunization registry. For the first year of the reporting requirement, the goal will be to help parents get their children up to date on immunizations by the end of the school year.

Considerable work has already been done, and more is underway to help prepare for mandatory immunization status reporting.

As part of the measles immunization catch-up campaign, health authorities have been reviewing thousands of records in relation to measles vaccinations. At the same time, parents have been providing health units missing and updated records while taking advantage of the measles immunization clinics.

Mandatory reporting of student’s immunization status increases public health’s ability to respond during an outbreak, as it allows health officials to quickly identify those who are under-and who are not immunized.

It is also a prompt for parents to check and ensure immunizations for their children are up to date and provides public health officials another opportunity to connect with families about why immunization is important for the health and well-being of their children, as well as the community. In addition to public health clinics, parents are able to get their children immunized through their primary care providers or community pharmacists.

Mandatory reporting is part of the ongoing plan to increase immunization rates for all vaccine-preventable diseases. This effort commenced with the measles immunization catch-up program in April 2019. The most recent data indicates that increasing the opportunities for guardians to get children immunized is improving immunization levels overall.


“This spring, we launched the catch-up measles immunization program throughout schools and public health units, which is having a positive effect,” said Dix.

“Since April, the number of kindergarten-to-Grade 12 students having received two doses of measles vaccine has increased by over 33,000. Based on the records reviewed so far by health authorities – amounting to over 566,000 – nearly 95% of students have received one or two doses of vaccine.”

BC has a comprehensive provincial childhood immunization program, which includes coverage for a wide variety of diseases including measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, pertussis, polio, HPV, varicella, diphtheria, influenza, meningococcal disease and hepatitis.


Learn More:



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nurses Take Job Action After Years of NDP Neglect

Image Credit:  BC Nurses Union BC nurses have reached a breaking point after years of unsafe conditions, rising violence in the workplace and a government that wouldn’t listen. Now they are on the picket line fighting to be heard. Last week, nurses began job action with a 72-hour strike notice, refusing non-essential overtime and stepping back from non-nursing duties. As of Tuesday, they have escalated to picket lines for the first time in decades. This moment was avoidable. It is the result of years of unanswered concerns from the frontline workers who keep our hospitals running. Nurses have been raising the same concerns for years: unsafe staffing levels, rising violence on the job, and a workload no single person should have to carry. None of it is new, and none of it should have taken a strike vote to get the government's attention. "Nurses are exercising their legal right to job action, but it shouldn’t have had to come to this," said Kiel Giddens, MLA for...
Post a Comment
Read more

British Columbians Still Don’t Know Who’s Paying for NDP’s BC Hydro Deal

The NDP is making billion-dollar promises with BC Hydro, but British Columbians still don’t know who will pay the bill. Last week’s memorandum of understanding isn’t what the federal government and the NDP are making it out to be. It’s an admission that the NDP failed to make the long-term investments needed to keep B.C. powered. Now British Columbians have serious questions about the cost and whether BC Hydro ratepayers will end up paying the price. David L. Williams, MLA for Salmon Arm-Shuswap and Shadow Minister for BC Hydro and Electrical Energy Development , said British Columbians deserve clear answers about the full implications of the Canada–British Columbia Cooperative Prosperity Agreement. “British Columbians deserve the full truth,” said Mr. Williams. “This multi-billion-dollar announcement does not answer who pays for cost overruns, who pays for new generation, who carries the risk if industrial customers do not materialize, or whether ratepayers will be forced ...
Post a Comment
Read more

NDP Government Blames Everyone but Themselves

The federal government has announced new measures to support British Columbia's forestry sector, including $65 million in funding for projects across the province. While any support is welcome, it falls far short of the level of assistance other provinces have secured for key industries. Conservative Forests Critic Ward Stamer says the NDP government needs to take responsibility for its mismanagement of B.C.’s forest industry instead of trying to pass on the blame. Despite promising to create more jobs in the forest sector, the NDP government has overseen the loss of thousands of forestry jobs and 21 mill closures which have devastated communities. “If Premier Eby spent more time addressing the regulatory issues impacting the forestry sector than he did complaining about the federal government, we would not be in the position we are now,” said Stamer. “And instead of trying to place the blame for mill closures on Donald Trump, Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar should t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more