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Ontario is failing to make full use of the best pro-vaccination tool at its disposal, says the province’s former chief medical officer.
Dr. Richard Shabas, who is currently chief medical officer of health in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties and was the province’s chief doctor for a decade, said Ontario’s Immunization of School Pupils Act is a powerful tool to make sure almost every student in the province is vaccinated, but it is not being adequately enforced.
“For reasons I don’t understand, it has kind of fallen to the back burner.”
Ottawa Public Health officials have acknowledged that they have stopped full surveillance of student immunization records, something that is required under the act.
Health Minister Eric Hoskin, in a statement, said health units are required to fully comply with the act and to inform the province when they are not. The province is investigating.
But Shabas said the fact that the provincial government has never included the Immunization of School Pupils Act among its accountability indicators that health units must meet “sends a message that it is not a priority.”
In addition, Ottawa’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Isra Levy said officials at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care were aware that the city was not fully complying with the act.
Mayor Jim Watson is to meet with Levy and health board interim chair Shad Qadri about the issue next week.
Shabas said the province would send a clear message that it regards the Immunization of School Pupils Act as a priority, if it made student immunization coverage part of its accountability indicators.
Every year, provincial health units sign agreements with the provincial government — which provides most of their funding — to meet various health promotion and protection standards.
Among standards health units must meet are requirements that certain percentages of moderate-risk food premises, spas and personal services settings are inspected annually, for example. There are also targets set for percentages of female students that are vaccinated for HPV (human papillomavirus) and students vaccinated for hepatitis B and meningococcal disease — all of which are administered during school — among other indicators.
But, Shabas points out, there is no indicator for overall student immunization coverage, something he has been asking the province to include for years.
“It would send a clear message to health departments like Ottawa’s that they should be enforcing this act.”
Shabas says the province could easily create standards under the act, “to say that 95 per cent or 97 or whatever the right percentage is of students in your school should be compliant with the act.”
That means they should either be fully immunized or have a valid exemption from the act.
“There is no reason why any board of health can’t achieve that.”
And when the act is enforced, he said, the majority get immunized. “It is a de facto way of assuring high immunization rates.”
Shabas, paradoxically, said he believes the concern about measles is overblown in Ontario. “The number of measles cases we get are trivial and measles are well controlled. I simply do not understand the obsession of many of my colleagues with what is fundamentally a trivial problem.”
Still, he said, immunization coverage and enforcement are crucial and Ontario has a good tool to do so with the Immunization of School Pupils Act.
Setting up clear standards that health boards must meet would make sure that act is fully enforced.
And, despite statements from provincial and federal health officials about the importance of vaccinations, he said “actions speak louder than words.”
epayne@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
Dr. Richard Shabas, who is currently chief medical officer of health in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties and was the province’s chief doctor for a decade, said Ontario’s Immunization of School Pupils Act is a powerful tool to make sure almost every student in the province is vaccinated, but it is not being adequately enforced.
“For reasons I don’t understand, it has kind of fallen to the back burner.”
Ottawa Public Health officials have acknowledged that they have stopped full surveillance of student immunization records, something that is required under the act.
Health Minister Eric Hoskin, in a statement, said health units are required to fully comply with the act and to inform the province when they are not. The province is investigating.
But Shabas said the fact that the provincial government has never included the Immunization of School Pupils Act among its accountability indicators that health units must meet “sends a message that it is not a priority.”
In addition, Ottawa’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Isra Levy said officials at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care were aware that the city was not fully complying with the act.
Mayor Jim Watson is to meet with Levy and health board interim chair Shad Qadri about the issue next week.
Shabas said the province would send a clear message that it regards the Immunization of School Pupils Act as a priority, if it made student immunization coverage part of its accountability indicators.
Every year, provincial health units sign agreements with the provincial government — which provides most of their funding — to meet various health promotion and protection standards.
Among standards health units must meet are requirements that certain percentages of moderate-risk food premises, spas and personal services settings are inspected annually, for example. There are also targets set for percentages of female students that are vaccinated for HPV (human papillomavirus) and students vaccinated for hepatitis B and meningococcal disease — all of which are administered during school — among other indicators.
But, Shabas points out, there is no indicator for overall student immunization coverage, something he has been asking the province to include for years.
“It would send a clear message to health departments like Ottawa’s that they should be enforcing this act.”
Shabas says the province could easily create standards under the act, “to say that 95 per cent or 97 or whatever the right percentage is of students in your school should be compliant with the act.”
That means they should either be fully immunized or have a valid exemption from the act.
“There is no reason why any board of health can’t achieve that.”
And when the act is enforced, he said, the majority get immunized. “It is a de facto way of assuring high immunization rates.”
Shabas, paradoxically, said he believes the concern about measles is overblown in Ontario. “The number of measles cases we get are trivial and measles are well controlled. I simply do not understand the obsession of many of my colleagues with what is fundamentally a trivial problem.”
Still, he said, immunization coverage and enforcement are crucial and Ontario has a good tool to do so with the Immunization of School Pupils Act.
Setting up clear standards that health boards must meet would make sure that act is fully enforced.
And, despite statements from provincial and federal health officials about the importance of vaccinations, he said “actions speak louder than words.”
epayne@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
