MEMO: Upcoming Suspension Orders for Students Not Compliant with ISPA

TO: Health Care Providers who Administer Vaccines to School Age Children

FROM: Vaccine Preventable Disease Program, Niagara Region Public Health

REFERENCE: Upcoming Suspension Orders for Students Not Compliant with the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA)

DATE: January 18, 2024

Beginning January 22, Niagara Region Public Health (NRPH) will be mailing approximately 9,000 suspension orders:

Students who continue to have incomplete vaccination information on file will be suspended from school starting March 19, 2024, unless the missing vaccination information is reported sooner
These suspension notices may prompt an increased number of calls to your office from parents/legal guardians seeking vaccinations for their child/children

Reminders

The teenage Tdap booster is due 10 years after the dose given between 4-6 years of age
A Statement of Medical Exemption should be completed and signed only if the vaccine is deemed to be unsafe or unnecessary for the patient due to:
- Contraindication to health (e.g., allergy to a component of the vaccine)
- Laboratory confirmation of immunity or prior disease
- Clinical diagnosis of prior disease

Health Care Provider Action

Ensure your office has enough vaccine to accommodate this potential increased demand:
- Use the General Vaccine Order Form for Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) required vaccines (includes Meningococcal C Conjugate vaccine)
- Use the School Program Vaccine Order Form for Meningococcal ACYW-135 vaccine. Note: while Public Health runs school-based vaccine clinics at participating schools, sometimes parents/legal guardians prefer to have their child immunized in a setting other than the school clinic. Please use this order form to order Grade 7 vaccines for these patients.
Have appointments available to help students catch-up on missed vaccines
Check immunization status when you are seeing a student for any reason and offer vaccine(s) if needed
After administering vaccine(s), remind patients to report their immunization(s) to Public Health
- Provide the patient with written documentation (e.g., yellow card or reporting tear-off sheet - see "notification tear-off pads" under vaccines and immunizations)

More Information

To complement immunization efforts in your office, NRPH continues to run vaccination clinics. Patients can visit niagararegion.ca/vaccines for details.
Ontario’s Publicly Funded Immunization Schedule
Contact the VPD program at 1-888-505-6074 or 905-688-8248 ext. 7396