Ottawa health teams racing to help close the childhood immunization gap

Published Jul 04, 2023 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 3 minute read

Dina Daaboul and her son, Yousef, who received four routine childhood vaccines — two in each arm — at a special Vaccinate and Up to Date clinic run by the Kids Come First Health Team. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

When Dina Daaboul returned to Ottawa this year after living in the Middle East, her first priority was to get her young son’s vaccinations up to date.

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Two-year-old Yousef, who has Down syndrome, wanted to play and be around other children — and needed that for his development. But, like many children, he had fallen behind on routine vaccines. Daaboul worried about exposing him to other children until he was fully vaccinated.

He is now up to date and Daaboul could not be more relieved.

“I am really happy. It was a relief for me to make sure he was on track.”

Yousef received four routine childhood vaccines — two in each arm — at a special Vaccinate and Up to Date clinic run by the Kids Come First Health Team at the Centretown Community Health Centre.

It is part of a push to vaccinate children this summer amid dropping childhood vaccination rates and shortages of family physicians. Special catch-up vaccination clinics are being held at health centres and other locations around the region. A race is on to close the vaccination gap before children return to full-time school, daycare and activities in the fall.

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With cases of vaccine-preventable diseases beginning to show up in Canada, there is an urgency to those efforts.

Health officials in Peel Region confirmed a case of measles in a child with no travel history earlier in June, raising concerns that the highly infectious, vaccine-preventable disease could spread further because of waning immunization rates. Measles is among the most contagious infectious disease in the world. It spreads so easily that about 95 per cent of the population needs to be vaccinated to maintain herd immunity.

Cases of whooping cough, another vaccine-preventable illness, have also been recently identified in Manitoba in recent days.

Last fall, Ottawa Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches warned that thousands of children in Ottawa had missed measles vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic and that childhood vaccination rates continued to lag, putting children at risk.

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Dr. Kelley Zwicker, an Ottawa pediatrician and member of the Kids Come First health team steering committee, says the organization is making it a priority to help children catch up on missed vaccines. That includes making it easy for parents to book and to find locations across the region. The clinics are open to people who don’t have OHIP cards, and health officials at the clinic help parents determine which vaccines their children need.

“It is a bit of a race. We know there are gaps in immunization rates for things like measles, mumps, rubella and tetanus,” Zwicker said. “It is a race because, if we have a decline in herd immunity, the risk of outbreaks of preventable diseases is higher.”

The decline in childhood immunization is being seen around the world, in part because of disruptions caused by the pandemic. Among other things, vaccines routinely given to Grade 7 students in school in Ontario were postponed because of pandemic school closures.

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In addition, growing numbers of families in Ottawa and elsewhere don’t have family physicians, which is traditionally where children receive their first vaccinations. Without a family doctor, even knowing when children should receive vaccinations becomes more difficult for families.

Yegor Nino is among the Ottawa residents who have been unable to find family physicians. As a result, his two-month-old son, Oliver, had not been vaccinated until this week.

Oliver received two shots and one oral vaccine at the Kids Come First clinic in Centretown. Nino expects to be back with his son for the next round of vaccines two months from now.

“It was great. The ladies were really nice and explained everything,” Nino said.

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Yegor Nino is among the Ottawa residents who have been unable to find family physicians. As a result, two-month-old son Oliver had not been vaccinated until this week. Photo by Chloe Girvan /Handout

Zwicker says it is crucial that the importance of routine vaccinations be “placed at the forefront of people’s minds again” after the pandemic. Those who have used the clinic, she said, are grateful for the access and are relieved.

But she worries that not enough people know about it or why it is so important that children are caught up on vaccines.

“There is a sense of urgency,” Zwicker said.

For Daaboul, being able to update her son’s vaccines makes her feel more secure about his health.

“I want to make sure he gets everything he needs to be a healthy boy.”

More information about the vaccine clinics is available online at the website.