News

The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit (HNHU) would like to remind parents about the importance of reporting their child’s immunization to public health.

By law in Ontario, public health needs:

• An up-to-date vaccination record, or
• A valid exemption form

This is required for each child attending a licensed childcare centre, licensed home childcare agency (Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014) or school (Immunization of School Pupils Act). The HNHU needs to have the vaccine information for all daycare and school-aged children to protect the community from vaccine-preventable diseases in the event of an outbreak. These diseases, like measles, diphtheria, and polio, can easily spread through schools and the community.

Parents are responsible for providing up-to-date vaccination information and can report their child’s immunization by using the online reporting system, by phone, by mail or by fax. More information can be found by visiting hnhu.org/immunization-reporting

“Over the course of the pandemic, many children fell behind on their routine immunizations. It’s unfortunate, but the reality. Getting caught up on routine immunizations will help protect your children against illnesses such as measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus and polio to name a few, ” said Eric Robertson, nurse and manager of the Vaccine Preventable Disease team. “After receiving a vaccine, it becomes the responsibility of the individual or parent to notify public health. We often get calls for record requests when an individual is starting a new job, heading off to post-secondary school, or wanting to travel. When public health is notified each time the child receives a vaccine, the record remains up to date and is easily accessible to you. It’s a terrible feeling to tell someone starting a new job that we don’t have a record because we were not notified of their immunizations when they were a kid.”

If a child has missed some of their routine immunizations, the HNHU is offering vaccine clinics in Simcoe, Dunnville, and Caledonia. Appointments can be booked through our website at hnhu.org/immunization-booking

For more information about vaccination, reporting, clinic dates and more, please visit hnhu.org/routine-immunization

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