As kids head back to school, make sure their vaccines are up to date, doctors say

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Nicole Ireland, August 24, 2024

Amid a rise in infections such as measles and whooping cough in Canada and around the world, doctors say now is the perfect time for parents to ensure their kids and teens are protected against vaccine-preventable diseases. 

“It is absolutely the time of year when families start thinking about their back-to-school checklists like school supplies … healthy lunches, et cetera,” Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said in an interview.  

“Making sure your kids are up to date with the routine vaccination is part of that checklist,” she said, noting that kids will once again be mingling in classrooms and illnesses can spread.   

On Thursday, the New Brunswick department of health declared an outbreak of whooping cough, with 141 cases reported so far this year. The province “strongly encouraged” parents to check the status of their children’s immunizations as the new school year approaches.

Whooping cough, also called pertussis, can be very serious and even life-threatening, especially for very young children, Tam said. 

It can also significantly affect otherwise healthy kids, teens and adults, she said. 

“We call it the 100-day cough,” Tam said. “It can lead to (a) significant amount of coughing for a very long time.”

Dr. Laura Sauvé, president-elect of the Canadian Paediatric Society, said some children still may not be caught up on routine vaccinations they missed due to COVID-19 disruptions. 

In addition, the pandemic drove an increase in vaccine hesitancy fuelled by misinformation circulating on social media, she said. 

“Some families have more questions about vaccines than they did before,” said Sauvé, who is also a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of British Columbia.

“I would recommend that people talk to their doctors or a trusted health-care provider because doctors and public health practitioners are really happy to answer people’s questions one-on-one.”

Tam emphasized that if vaccinations have been missed, it’s never too late to get them and that public health units and schools often run catch-up programs. 

Here’s a guide to help parents make sure their kids and teens are up to date on their vaccinations, based on provincial and territorial immunization schedules.  

INFANTS AND TODDLERS

Before kids go to school, they should already have been vaccinated against tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, haemophilus influenzae type B, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, meningitis, pneumococcal infections and rotavirus. 

Babies receive multiple doses of the tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine starting at two months of age through to 18 months. (Haemophilus influenzae type B is a bacterium that can cause infection in young children.)

In many provinces and territories, that vaccine also contains protection against hepatitis B. 

But In New Brunswick, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, babies get a separate hepatitis B vaccination when they’re born, then two more doses over the next several months. 

Babies also get a measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) vaccine – MMR-V —  at 12 months and 18 months in most provinces and territories. 

In British Columbia and in Yukon, babies get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and a separate varicella vaccine at 12 months. In Ontario, babies get the MMR vaccine at 12 months and the varicella vaccine at 15 months. 

Babies also get a meningococcal vaccine, which protects against a strain of meningitis, usually at 12 months. In Quebec, that vaccination is given at 18 months. In B.C., Yukon and the Northwest Territories, infants receive their first dose of meningococcal vaccine at two months, then again at 12 months. In Alberta they get their first dose at four months, then again at 12 months.

Pneumococcal vaccinations are given at two, four and 12 months in all provinces and in Yukon. In N.W.T. they are given at two, four, six and 18 months. In Nunavut the pneumococcal shots are at two, four, six and 15 months, with another dose at two to three years of age. 

Babies get the rotavirus vaccine at two and four months in all provinces and territories. In Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and the three territories, there’s an additional dose at six months.