Item - 2024.HL18.3

The Board of Health:

1. Recommended the Ministry of Health implement the recommendation from the Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee to create a provincial immunization registry that provides real-time information access to individuals and their health care providers and includes sociodemographic data linkage capabilities to support interventions to address inequities in vaccine access.

2. Requested the Minister of Health to:

a. Increase eligibility for publicly funded vaccine and access to Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for all people under 26 years of age; and as part of expanded public funding for HPV vaccination to all people under 26 years of age, the Ministry of Health request the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities to promote HPV vaccination access with postsecondary institutions; and

b. Develop a comprehensive campaign to increase the uptake of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B, and meningococcal vaccinations, especially among communities with lower coverage of these vaccines.

The Associate Medical Officer of Health gave a presentation on Addressing Routine Immunization Rates Among School-Aged Children and Youth.

Toronto Public Health (TPH) works to facilitate high vaccination rates among elementary and secondary school-aged students and prevent vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks in schools and communities. Vaccinating children and youth protect them against vaccine-preventable diseases and some cancers and can prevent children and youth from passing on an infection to other people in their family or school.

Ontario's Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) requires students who attend elementary and secondary school to be vaccinated against nine designated diseases or to have a valid exemption. It is the responsibility of parents and caregivers of students to report their immunizations to Toronto Public Health. Under the requirements of the Immunization of School Pupils Act, students who do not submit the required vaccination records or a valid exemption form to Toronto Public Health may be suspended from school.

Following a pause in student suspensions during the pandemic, Toronto Public Health resumed the full Immunization of School Pupils Act assessment and enforcement process for the 2023-2024 school year. This included suspensions from school for students who did not provide Toronto Public Health with complete Immunization of School Pupils Act vaccine records or a valid exemption. Toronto Public Health reminds and assists families and schools to promote Immunization of School Pupils Act compliance through informational and vaccination initiatives so that students can avoid suspension or return to school as quickly as possible. Toronto Public Health includes equity-focused initiatives in their student immunization programs, including working with other health and community partners to share messages about vaccines and assigning Public Health Nurses to schools with lower rates of coverage and Aanse-focused schools that have the highest numbers of self-identified Indigenous students.

Through the School Immunization Program (SIP), Toronto Public Health offers three vaccines to grade seven and eight students at clinics in schools. These vaccines are meningococcal, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), and the hepatitis B vaccines. Vaccine clinics in schools were paused during the pandemic response. The resumption of school-based clinics for adolescents promotes vaccine uptake.