British Columbia’s deputy provincial health officer, Dr. Martin Lavoie, is asking parents to make sure their kids are up to date on their vaccinations before they head back to school.
While the province isn’t making vaccinations mandatory to attend school, as Ontario and New Brunswick have done, it is strongly encouraging families to take advantage of free vaccines.
B.C. also requires that parents inform the province about the immunizations their children have or haven’t received.
Getting kids up to date on their vaccines is especially important this year because of the “significant increase in measles cases in the province and across Canada,” Lavoie said in a press release last month.
So far this year there have been 4,718 measles cases across the country, according to Health Canada. B.C. has had 213 cases, with 24 new cases in August.
Health Canada says about eight per cent of those infected have required hospitalization and there has been one death, when an infant died in southwestern Ontario in early June.
To be protected from measles, kids should receive one vaccination at 12 months old and another when they enter school, between the ages of four and six. Vaccinating children as young as six months is possible, but because their immune system is still developing, the vaccine doesn’t provide lasting immunity.
Heading back to school means kids are “exposed to various infectious diseases,” Lavoie said.
Vaccinating children, he added, “is the best way to protect them from vaccine-preventable illnesses that can cause serious illness, long-term disability and even death.”
Measles isn’t the only preventable disease making a comeback. In May Vancouver Coastal Health warned cases of whooping cough were on the rise.
B.C. has a recommended vaccination schedule for children and youth. Vaccines are free and protect kids from a wide range of potentially devastating diseases.
If children have fallen behind on their vaccinations they may be able to get caught up at school.
The Ministry of Health told The Tyee public health nursing teams visit schools to provide routine vaccinations in kindergarten, Grade 6 and Grade 9.
Low vaccination rates for measles in B.C.
Despite the fact that vaccines are free and accessible in B.C., the province’s childhood vaccination rates are falling.
Around 84 per cent of B.C.’s total population is immunized against measles, and that’s a problem because 95 per cent of a population needs to be immunized to prevent it from spreading.
Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease. If an infected person walks through a grocery store and doesn’t touch anything, a person who doesn’t have full immunity could walk through the store two hours later and catch the disease “easily” just by breathing the same air.
Two doses of the vaccine give people nearly 100 per cent protection from ever getting sick with measles even if exposed, Lavoie previously told The Tyee.
School safety measures
The Tyee reached out to the largest school districts in B.C. — Surrey, Vancouver, Coquitlam, Burnaby and Langley — to ask what their back-to-school strategies were to keep students safe.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Infrastructure said it tells school districts to meet indoor air quality standards set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, but each district can decide how to do that.
“At this time government does not track which schools have HEPA filters,” the ministry added.
Budget 2025 provides $765 million in capital funding for school maintenance projects over the next three years, which can be used for air filtration upgrades, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Education and Child Care said schools are also expected to follow the provincial communicable disease guidelines for K-12 settings, and that students and staff are “accepted and encouraged” to wear masks.
None of the school districts The Tyee contacted directly answered a question on how many of their classrooms have HEPA filters and how many do not.
The Surrey school district said it follows ministry guidelines and that all of its buildings have mechanical ventilation with the “highest filtration means afforded to each unit.”
The district said it was also working with Fraser Health to “co-ordinate and support vaccination clinics” and that blue medical masks and cloth masks are made available for all staff, students and visitors.
Blue medical masks can reduce the spread of disease by limiting how much a sick person can cough or sneeze on people around them, but only a properly fitting N95 or KN95 protects the person wearing it from airborne diseases such as COVID-19 and measles.
The Vancouver School Board, or VSB, said it follows provincial guidance for masking and indoor air quality and meets recommendations for ventilation of indoor spaces and schools. This includes opening windows whenever possible and setting HVAC systems to “maximize air exchange in classrooms.”
In 2022, the VSB upgraded its ventilation systems with MERV-13 filters, it added.
The Burnaby school district said its ventilation systems are designed, operated and maintained to WorkSafeBC standards and legislative requirements.
The Langley school district said it would not be able to respond to the media request by press time, and the Coquitlam school district didn’t respond.
Getting the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine
Anyone born before 1970 is assumed to have been exposed to measles as a child and have immunity. Anyone born after 1970 is asked to check their immunization records to make sure they are fully vaccinated with two doses, Lavoie said.
Anyone who is unsure if they are immune should speak with their family doctor or call 811 to speak with a nurse to determine their next steps, he added.
Getting an additional vaccine if you’re not able to confirm if you’re fully vaccinated is safe.
The Ministry of Health told The Tyee infants, children and adults can be vaccinated at their local health unit or health centre or by some family doctors. Call to make an appointment to ensure the vaccine is available.
Kids four and older, and adults, can also get vaccinated for measles at participating pharmacies.
