For Immediate Release
Thursday, January 23, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. | Windsor and Essex County
In the fall of 2024, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) completed a review of all student immunization records (65,633) and sent out 7,076 notices to elementary students and 4,785 notices to secondary students. These notices indicated that the students were either overdue for vaccines required to attend school as per the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) R.S.O.1990 (ISPA), or their immunization records were not updated with the WECHU.
As of January 17, 2025, over 90% of students in Windsor and Essex County meet the requirements of the ISPA. However, there are 3,699 elementary students and 2,781 secondary students that continue to be at risk of suspension from school this March. These students are missing required immunizations or have not yet submitted updated immunization records to the WECHU.
The deadline for parents/guardians to update student immunization records with the WECHU is Thursday February 27, 2025, at 6:00pm for elementary students and Thursday March 13, 2025, at 6:00pm for secondary students. Students whose records are not in compliance by these deadlines will be suspended from school effective Monday March 3, 2025 (elementary) and Monday March 17, 2025 (secondary).
There is still time for families across Windsor and Essex County to avoid school suspension through the following options:
- Contact the student’s health care provider to receive any missing immunizations and/or obtain missing immunization documents (please share the notice received from the health unit with the health care provider). Next, report the updated immunization information to the WECHU (see #2 below). Health care providers are not required to do this. It is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to report all immunizations to the WECHU.
- Submit updated immunization records to the WECHU using one of the following methods:
|
Secure Online Reporting Instructional video for families. Translation into multiple languages available through closed captioning. |
immune.wechu.org |
| Phone | 519-258-2146 ext. 1222 |
| Fax | 519-258-7288 |
|
In Person to the WECHU
|
Windsor office: 1005 Ouellette Avenue or Leamington office: 33 Princess Street |
- Book an immunization appointment with the WECHU online at www.wechu.org/getimmunized or by calling 519-258-2146 ext. 1222. The WECHU is offering families a variety of clinics, with some evening and Saturday appointments available.
For more information on school immunizations and the suspension process, visit the WECHU website.