Reporting a student’s immunization status allows public health to respond quickly during an outbreak by easily identifying students who are not fully immunized. It also provides and opportunity for parents and guardians to ensure their child’s immunizations are up-to-date. The reporting regulation came into effect on July 1, 2019.
Parents and guardians are asked to provide public health with immunization records for students enrolled in the provincial school system. Most families are already in compliance with this requirement and do not need to do anything additional. Families may be contacted by public health if a child’s records are incomplete or missing.
Parents and guardians can check whether their child’s immunization record is complete or incomplete through ImmunizeBC.
School-age children needing immunizations can be immunized at their local public health unit. Immunization clinics will be held in schools for grades 6 and 9. Watch for information from your child’s school or call your local public health unit for information.
Children who attend home school can be immunized at a public health unit. Call to schedule an appointment.
Vaccines have saved more lives in Canada than any other medical intervention in the past 50 years. Vaccines also prevent diseases that cause pain and permanent disability. Vaccines protect everyone – not just the people being immunized. The more people in a community who are immunized the harder it is for disease to spread. This includes the most vulnerable among us, including the very young, the elderly and those who cannot be immunized for medical reasons.
