28% of kindergarten students in N.B. fail to meet immunization requirements
CBC
More than a quarter of New Brunswick kindergarten students did not meet the immunization requirements to enter public school in 2023-24, the latest figures from the Department of Health show.
Only 71.8 per cent of students provided proof of full immunization against nine diseases, including measles, mumps and meningococcal disease, as required under the Public Health Act, according to the School Immunization Program report.
That means nearly 2,000 four- and five-year-olds did not, based on Department of Education data.
Vaccination rates are down from 2022-23, when 73.9 per cent of kindergarten students met the requirements, but up from 61.4 per cent in 2021-22.
The report does not provide vaccination rates for older students and neither department responded to a request for those figures.
New Brunswick is in the midst of the largest measles outbreak recorded in "several decades."
Fifty cases of the highly infectious respiratory disease have now been confirmed — all in health Zone 3, which includes Fredericton and parts of the Upper Saint John River Valley area, Department of Health spokesperson Tara Chislett told CBC News Tuesday.
All of the cases can be traced back to the initial one reported Oct. 24, involving a person who recently travelled internationally, Chislett said, and all of them were considered vulnerable because they either never had measles before, were unvaccinated or immunocompromised.
More than 80 per cent of the infected New Brunswickers are under 19, Chislett said. She did not provide a further breakdown, or the age of the youngest case.
Measles is transmitted through the air or by direct contact with nasal or throat secretions of an infected person.
The virus can linger in the air for hours, and one infected person can spread it to nine out of 10 unprotected people around them.
The New Brunswick outbreak has pushed Canada's annual case count to 130, which includes the death of child under five in Hamilton, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
In 2023, only 12 measles cases were reported across Canada all year.
"The current outbreak of measles is directly related to low immunization rates. It's that simple," said Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, an independent national advocate for public health.
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