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VANCOUVER – Health Minister Adrian Dix has said that British Columbia has had a "dramatic increase" in the number of children vaccinated against measles since a provincial control program was put in place against the infectious disease.
More than 15,786 children and adolescents were vaccinated against the highly contagious airborne disease in April and May, the first two months of the new measles immunization catch-up program.
The goal is to immunize children from kindergarten to twelfth grade if they have not already been vaccinated against measles or if they have not received the two recommended doses.
The voluntary program was established following a measles outbreak in BC linked to two francophone schools in Vancouver, and according to Dix, 29 cases have been confirmed in the province since the beginning of the program. ;year.
Health authorities also reviewed the vaccination records of more than half a million students and notified parents and guardians of those whose records were incomplete or missing.
This information, combined with the new vaccinations, means that the number of students who confirmed that they received both doses in the first two months increased by 23,876.
"We are making progress, as evidenced by these figures, which represent a dramatic increase over the same periods of previous years," said Dix.
A report released on Tuesday did not provide the corresponding immunization numbers for April and May 2018, and the Ministry of Health did not immediately release them.
The report indicates, however, that the BC Center for Disease Control distributed 96,420 doses of measles vaccine to the health authorities in April and May, compared to 24,570 doses for the same period last year.
Beginning in September, parents will be required to declare their child's immunization record. The measure does not require that children be vaccinated in order to go to school.
According to Dix, measles cases in British Columbia occur in international epidemics, including more than 1,000 in the United States.
"We know that British Columbians travel during the summer and it's a good time, if you have not been vaccinated, to get vaccinated," he says.
There will be 900 public clinics and 230 school clinics offering the vaccine this month, he added.
While misinformation about vaccinations circulates online, he says that "the vast majority of people" understand that vaccinations make children safe.
According to the BC Center for Disease Control, measles can lead to complications and death, most commonly in infants under one year of age and adults.
Fever, cough, watery eyes and a rash of red spots develop on the face and spread all over the body.
Anyone suspected of having measles should contact their doctor before traveling to the office to avoid infecting other patients in the waiting room.
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