Grey Bruce Public Health is continuing its dedicated efforts to ensure all students are up to date on routine, publicly funded vaccines.

GBPH is holding weekly community vaccination clinics this summer – until school resumes in the fall – as well as in-school vaccine clinics after classes begin.

These planned initiatives are intended to make it convenient for families and students to receive the necessary vaccines. 

“We know that summer can be a busy time for families and that some students may not have a primary care provider or are unable to get an appointment before the start of school in September. The goal of GBPH’s vaccination clinics is to assist and reduce the stress on families, parents, and students by providing additional opportunities for school-aged children to catch up on vaccines required by the Immunization of School Pupils Act,” says Physician Consultant Dr. Rim Zayed.
GBPH will be holding weekly community vaccine clinics in several Grey-Bruce communities throughout August and at the beginning of September.

GBPH’s Vaccine Preventable Disease (VPD) program will be offering in-school vaccine clinics in the fall for Grade 7 and 8 students and the winter for secondary school students.

Students requiring routine vaccines will receive take-home vaccination information packages during the school year. The packages will include information on the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA), vaccines the student may require, consent forms, and the dates of in-school clinics.

GBPH’s community and in-school vaccine clinics are part of Public Health’s focused efforts to support students in getting up to date on routine vaccines, prevent school suspensions, and increase the percentage of students meeting the requirements of Ontario’s ISPA.

Ontario’s Publicly Funded Immunization Schedule outlines the routine vaccines that all children and adolescents without a valid exemption must receive to attend primary or secondary school. The ISPA mandates Public Health Units to maintain and review immunization records for every student attending school within their jurisdiction and enforce a suspension for students with incomplete vaccine information or overdue immunizations unless a medical or non-medical exemption is in place.

“GBPH’s strategy is to support families – in every way we can – to meet the requirements of the ISPA,” Dr. Zayed says.

Parents/guardians whose children are up to date on all required vaccines are asked to ensure their immunization records with Public Health are also updated. Immunization information can be accessed and updated using the online ICON tool: ICON Link.

A calendar of community clinics is available on GBPH’s website, at the following link: GBPH Calendar.

Appointments, which are required for GBPH vaccine clinics, can be made by emailing immunization@publichealthgreybruce.on.ca or calling 519-376-9420 or 1-800-263-3456 (Press 2).

For More Information:
To connect with the Medical Officer of Health or the program manager, please contact:
Denis Langlois, Communications Co-ordinator,
Grey Bruce Health Unit,
519-376-9420 or 1-800-263-3456 ext. 1315,
Communications@publichealthgreybruce.on.ca