The province is launching a catch up campaign to vaccinate school children due in part to an ongoing measles outbreak in B.C. with 19 confirmed cases to date.
“The program will include a school based component with health authorities delivering immunization through public health nurses going into schools.”
Health minister Adrian Dix says health authorities will work with school districts to enhance immunization clinics in schools between April of this year to June.
“For the Interior Health region in school immunization clinics will be offered to children in grades kindergarten to 12 with an emphasis, as in other health regions, on a second dose of the measles vaccine for kindergarten and grades one and two. There will be increased public health clinics and a review of all immunization records of school children with reminder phone calls and letters to anyone not up to date.”
Dix says while children in grades one and two will be a top priority the MMR vaccine will made available to all students.
“Measles is highly infectious and it is easily spread. It has serious long lasting potential complications including pneumonia, inflammation of the brain, seizures, deafness, brain damage, and death. Given the global situation we can expect in the future there could be more imported cases in B.C. in the coming months and indeed the coming years.’
He says the province will double its stock of the MMR vaccine.
Dix adds it is crucial people get vaccinated to provide herd immunity for those who cannot get vaccinated for various health reasons.
“We know in fact that there are very few people in B.C. who are against all vaccinations and that parents lead busy lives, which may lead missed doses of the two needed doses for children needing to be immunized against measles. Also in the past as we know once outbreaks were over they were out of mind and things slipped. We cannot allow that to happen again. This offer is an opportunity for us to catch up and do what needs to be done.”
Dix says the goal is to ramp up immunization rates to 95% to achieve “herd immunity” or such a high vaccination rate it prevents the spread of the disease protecting people who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons.
He adds in September all schools public and private will also require students to submit their vaccination records be they in public or private schools.
