Ontario’s Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) requires that students who attend elementary and secondary school be vaccinated against nine designated diseases or have a valid medical, religious or conscience exemption provided to their local public health unit to avoid suspension from school. This includes vaccinations for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, pertussis (whooping cough), meningococcal and varicella (chicken pox). As a result, each year Toronto Public Health staff work with schools located in the City of Toronto to assess student immunization records to ensure that all students are a) up-to-date with their required immunization and/or b) a valid exemption for philosophical or medical reasons is provided, in accordance with the ISPA. Toronto Public Health also offers hepatitis B, human papillomavirus (HPV) and meningococcal vaccines to grade 7 and 8 students at school clinics through the School Immunization Program (SIP).
This data represents Immunization Coverage Rates and exemptions for School pupils (7-17 year olds) in Toronto for the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 school years. For the 2023/2024 school year, this data represents the immunization coverage rates and exemptions for ISPA vaccines for school pupils in grade 2 and grade 12 and the immunization coverage rates for SIP vaccines for school pupils in grade 8 and grades 10-12.
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