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Ottawa Public Health asked the province and the city for a total of $60,000 last year to allow it to keep tracking vaccination levels in schools but was turned down, according to the city’s medical officer of health.
That was despite a 2014 auditor general’s report that told the Province of Ontario to do a better job of making sure health units collected accurate immunization data.
Ottawa Public Health officials acknowledge they have not conducted complete surveillance of student vaccination records for the past year and a half and have stopped suspending students whose vaccines are not up to date, despite being required to do so under provincial law.
The health unit, which is contemplating budget cuts this year, says it doesn’t have the resources. The funding for which it was turned down would have allowed the health unit to update the vaccination records of seven-years-olds, whose immunization coverage rate is low. OPH asked the province for $45,000 and the city for $15,000. It is working on a business plan for a new request to help it resume surveillance of vaccination records.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care said this week it is looking into whether OPH is breaking the law by not fully assessing and monitoring immunization records of students in Ottawa, although Dr. Isra Levy, Ottawa’s chief medical officer of health, said the province is aware of the issue.
“Regular teleconference communications with (Ministry of Health and Long Term Care) and immunization program managers have highlighted resource constraints that are limiting full compliance with the Ontario Public Health Standards in Ottawa and across the province.”
In a memo to Ottawa’s board of health this week, Levy said that “it has not been feasible” for OPH to implement all aspects of assessment and monitoring of immunization of school pupils in recent years.
He blamed a combination of underfunding, increasing demands, and the need to input records into a new vaccine computer system. “As a result, a discrepancy exists between immunizations given and immunizations reported and recorded by OPH.”
Nonetheless, he said, OPH has been able to continue to collect records and assess some of the data. And, in the event of an outbreak it can quickly identify which students have incomplete immunization records and exclude them from school when necessary. The city’s new health board holds its first meeting in early March.
Levy suggested other health units are also struggling to keep up with assessment and updating of student vaccine records. In Kingston, however, it continues.
Dr. Ian Gemmill, chief medical officer in Kingston, said public health officials there continue to conduct full surveillance of students’ vaccine records as well as records of children in licensed daycares — something Ottawa has not done in recent years.
“When I came here, I insisted that immunization be given a priority,” Gemmill said.
He added, though, that if more than one health unit is struggling to meet all the demands, “It is not a problem with the individual places; it is a problem with the system.”
Gemmill noted there have been calls for a greater investment in immunization by the province. He said the federal government should also invest more in immunization, rather than leaving cash-strapped health units struggling to meet the requirements.
“We want to have an immunization system that works. It is a foundation of public health and there needs to be proper investment.”
Ottawa Public Health’s per capita funding is among the lowest of all health units in the province. It is looking at cuts to some programs — including a newborn health program — and has moved resources around to meet growing demands.
In addition to extra staff required to get the new computer system up and running (which, although an improvement, will still require parents to phone in to update their children’s’ records), health units, as of last year, must now collect student vaccination records for nine mandatory vaccines. The province added three new vaccines to its mandatory list.
epayne@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
That was despite a 2014 auditor general’s report that told the Province of Ontario to do a better job of making sure health units collected accurate immunization data.
Ottawa Public Health officials acknowledge they have not conducted complete surveillance of student vaccination records for the past year and a half and have stopped suspending students whose vaccines are not up to date, despite being required to do so under provincial law.
The health unit, which is contemplating budget cuts this year, says it doesn’t have the resources. The funding for which it was turned down would have allowed the health unit to update the vaccination records of seven-years-olds, whose immunization coverage rate is low. OPH asked the province for $45,000 and the city for $15,000. It is working on a business plan for a new request to help it resume surveillance of vaccination records.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care said this week it is looking into whether OPH is breaking the law by not fully assessing and monitoring immunization records of students in Ottawa, although Dr. Isra Levy, Ottawa’s chief medical officer of health, said the province is aware of the issue.
“Regular teleconference communications with (Ministry of Health and Long Term Care) and immunization program managers have highlighted resource constraints that are limiting full compliance with the Ontario Public Health Standards in Ottawa and across the province.”
In a memo to Ottawa’s board of health this week, Levy said that “it has not been feasible” for OPH to implement all aspects of assessment and monitoring of immunization of school pupils in recent years.
He blamed a combination of underfunding, increasing demands, and the need to input records into a new vaccine computer system. “As a result, a discrepancy exists between immunizations given and immunizations reported and recorded by OPH.”
Nonetheless, he said, OPH has been able to continue to collect records and assess some of the data. And, in the event of an outbreak it can quickly identify which students have incomplete immunization records and exclude them from school when necessary. The city’s new health board holds its first meeting in early March.
Levy suggested other health units are also struggling to keep up with assessment and updating of student vaccine records. In Kingston, however, it continues.
Dr. Ian Gemmill, chief medical officer in Kingston, said public health officials there continue to conduct full surveillance of students’ vaccine records as well as records of children in licensed daycares — something Ottawa has not done in recent years.
“When I came here, I insisted that immunization be given a priority,” Gemmill said.
He added, though, that if more than one health unit is struggling to meet all the demands, “It is not a problem with the individual places; it is a problem with the system.”
Gemmill noted there have been calls for a greater investment in immunization by the province. He said the federal government should also invest more in immunization, rather than leaving cash-strapped health units struggling to meet the requirements.
“We want to have an immunization system that works. It is a foundation of public health and there needs to be proper investment.”
Ottawa Public Health’s per capita funding is among the lowest of all health units in the province. It is looking at cuts to some programs — including a newborn health program — and has moved resources around to meet growing demands.
In addition to extra staff required to get the new computer system up and running (which, although an improvement, will still require parents to phone in to update their children’s’ records), health units, as of last year, must now collect student vaccination records for nine mandatory vaccines. The province added three new vaccines to its mandatory list.
epayne@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
