Toronto-run clinics to offer missed vaccines for grade 7-12 students
Posted March 3, 2022 11:58 am.
Last Updated March 3, 2022 12:06 pm.
The City of Toronto says it will be offering Hepatitis B, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Meningococcal vaccinations to students in grades 7 to 12 starting in March.
Children in those grades either missed starting or completing their vaccine series at schools due to COVID-19, as schools were closed during the various waves.
Starting Thursday, appointments can be booked online at immunization clinics across the city. A health card is not required when booking.
The City says parents will receive a package from their child’s school that contains a consent form to bring to the appointment, as well as information about the vaccines.
Students who are younger than 14 years of age need to be accompanied to the appointment by a parent or legal guardian who will have to sign the consent form, while students 14 years of age and older can sign their own form.
According to Ontario’s Immunization of School Pupil Act, all students are required to have Meningococcal vaccines to attend school, or have a valid exemption. However, Hepatitis B and HPV vaccines are voluntary and not required for school attendance.
‘Vaccines continue to be one of the most important ways to improve health worldwide, prevent the spread of infectious diseases and protect against some cancers,” the city’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, said in a release.
“High immunization rates are important not only among students, but for everyone else in the community, including infants who are too young to receive the vaccine, pregnant women, and to protect people with weak immune systems, including elderly and immunocompromised residents.”
The City notes that the COVID-19 vaccine can be given at the time as the school-based vaccines.
Back in March 2020, school-based vaccination clinics for Hepatitis B, HPV and Meningococcal vaccines were suspended for students in grades 7-8. The following year in September, Toronto Public Health resumed the vaccinations at City-run immunization locations.
