Toronto Public Health’s (TPH) #VAXToClass campaign is off to a successful start. From September 26 to October 14, TPH provided lifesaving school-based vaccines to 3,178 students through 86 school-based vaccination clinics. A total of 7,775 doses of vaccine were administered, including: 2,761 Meningococcal vaccines, 2,813 Human Papillomavirus vaccines and 2,201 Hepatitis B vaccines.
TPH plans to reach 44,000 students in grades 7 and 8 through 448 in-school #VAXToClass clinics. Parents and students in grades 7 and 8 can expect to receive information about clinic opportunities and consent forms directly from schools.
Meningococcal vaccines (that prevent meningitis), Human Papillomavirus vaccines (that prevent cancers) and Hepatitis B vaccines (that prevent liver disease and cancer) are routinely offered in schools to grade 7 and 8 students. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many students did not receive these vaccines.
#VAXToClass is helping students catch up on vaccinations in their classrooms. It can take months for students who have started their catch up series to be fully vaccinated as two or three doses may be required depending on the vaccine.
During the previous #VAXToClass campaign between September 2021 and August 2022, TPH vaccinated approximately 27,000 students in grades 7 to 12 with more than 57,000 doses of school-based vaccines at TPH catch-up clinics.
This summer, TPH identified serious cases of meningococcal C infection among young adults who were not vaccinated. These cases highlight the need to get vaccinated to protect against the ongoing risk of infection.
In Ontario, the Immunization of School Pupils Act requires all students to be up-to-date with their Meningococcal vaccine or have a valid exemption: www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90
In addition to the #VAXToClass campaign, students in grades 9 to 12 who are behind on vaccines can receive them at one of the City’s six fixed-site immunization clinics. A health card is not required. Clinic appointments for school-based vaccines can be booked at www.TPHBookings.ca.
Children can also be immunized by their primary health care provider. Parents of Toronto school-aged children who are not vaccinated by TPH must provide their child’s vaccination information to TPH. Information on how to report children’s vaccination information is available on the Report Student Immunization webpage:
www.toronto.ca/community-peopl
SOURCE City of Toronto
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