TORONTO — Ontario is looking to strengthen the requirements for parents who want to exempt school children from vaccines for non-medical reasons.
Health Minister Eric Hoskins says the proposed new strategy, called Immunization 2020, will strengthen the publicly funded immunization program by requiring parents who want a non-medical exemption for their kids to attend an education session.
Parents would have to take a course at their local public health unit on the benefits of vaccines and the "very real risks" their children face if they are not immunized before they can get an exemption.
Hoskins says it's time to update Ontario's 1982 law — the first of its kind in Canada — that required children be vaccinated against certain diseases in order to be able to attend school, unless they had a valid exemption.
There will also be public education campaigns on immunization and an online tool to help remind parents of their children's vaccination schedules, based on birthdays.
Hoskins says the new plan "is a call for action and participation for health-care workers, public health specialists and all Ontarians involved with the province's immunization system," and follows recommendations of the auditor general.
The auditor concluded last December that the Ministry of Health has no way of tracking the percentage of Ontarians immunized for certain diseases, or whether its immunization program is cost-effective.
A report this year from the C.D. Howe Institute and another from an independent panel of medical experts both criticized the lack of data on Ontario's immunization programs.
