An Ontario mother said she is disturbed by a letter from Ontario's Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) notifying her of an upcoming immunization day planned at her child's school.."I received this letter from Southwestern Public Health. It was in regards to an upcoming that's happening at the school May 18," said the mother who identifies herself as @blondiejas on TikTok.. Video post from @blondiejas on TikTokVideo post from @blondiejas on TikTok .The concerned mother showed the letter in her video and pointed to a note at the bottom titled Consent for Immunization, which reads:."There is no age of consent for health care in Ontario. Students can consent to immunization for themselves if they understand what is being offered to them. It is strongly recommended that parents talk to their students about immunization decisions."."So my four-year-old...my four-year-old can consent as long as they know what's being offered to them?" said the mother. ."How is children who have undeveloped brains, making these choices without actually knowing what the risks are?" she questioned. .The Western Standard spoke with SWPH Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Fletcher, who confirmed the letters being sent to parents with the Consent for Immunization statement are for secondary students only. ."These notices apply to publicly-funded vaccines for students to catch up on the 14 to 16 year old boosters," said Fletcher indicating before the Consent for Immunization statement, parents are instructed to contact (SWPH) if they don't want their child to be immunized at the school. ."We ask parents to contact us directly if they don't want their child immunized through the school to make sure we are honouring the parental relationship within the family," said Fletcher. ."But we also want to honour the legal opportunity for a student to provide their own informed consent to be immunized." .Fletcher indicated the consent policy applies to secondary school students and would not necessarily be communicated in the same way to parents of middle or elementary school aged children. She also said these vaccination clinics will only include those vaccines listed in Ontario's Immunization of School Pupils Act and will not include the COVID-19 vaccine. .A copy of one of the standardized letters from SWPH to parents was provided to the Western Standard. ."The Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) is a law that says students under age 18 must be immunized against certain diseases or have a legal exemption," said a statement included in the letter. ."Public Health checks the immunization records of all students to make sure they are up to date with the vaccines they need for school.".A list of any vaccines a student is missing is included in each individual letter. .Although Ontario law says immunization is required for students to attend public school, parents can opt out of school immunization clinics and have their child vaccinated elsewhere unless they have a legal exemption.
