Hamilton public health says it won’t report ‘incomplete’ school-by-school vaccination rates
Hamilton public health says it has no plans to report school-by-school COVID-19 vaccination rates at this time."
In July, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health began to report publicly a school-by-school breakdown of the proportion of secondary students who have been vaccinated, citing transparency and a desire to normalize the vaccine among teens.
The data, which shows total enrolment and percentages of students both fully vaccinated and with a first dose, is updated daily on weekdays.
Most public health units in the province, including Hamilton's, have not released school vaccination data.
Available school information is self-reported and incomplete, therefore not suitable for reporting," Hamilton public health spokesperson Jacqueline Durlov said in an email to The Spectator.
Dr. Peter Juni, scientific director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, told The Spectator that, generally speaking, only if you have the data out there that allow us to start a discussion, things can change."
If you have a 90 per cent coverage in any case, then your risk of explosive outbreaks is dramatically reduced," he said. If you only have 50 per cent ... there could be explosive outbreaks in schools, but it also lets you think about, What's going on here? Why can we have such low vaccination rates, and is there anything that can be done about that?'"
However, the usefulness of the information depends on the data quality," Juni said.
If they're misleading, then we shouldn't put them out there," he said. If they're incomplete, but still representative, then we probably should have the transparency to put them out there."
In an initial assessment, public health found that approximately 5,000 records - about 20 per cent - are not suitable for this reporting purpose."
Vaccination data is currently reported in an aggregated fashion and is not currently available at a school level," Durlov said.
In Ontario, everyone who is vaccinated is registered with COVaxON, the province's reporting system, at the time of their shot. The system allows the health-care provider to select one reason - youth 12-plus," age-eligible population," other priority population," among others, according to public health.
If youth 12-plus" is selected, there is an option to enter a school name if this is known," Durlov said. Youth may also fit into one of the other categories.
These options do not require the health-care provider to enter in a school name as a mandatory field," and in some cases the youth's school may not get recorded," she said.
Public health says the COVID vaccine is optional, and is not mandated to be reported" like other immunizations - such as tetanus and measles - for schoolchildren.
What public health does track are vaccination rates by postal code.
Focusing mobile vaccination clinics and outreach in these areas are a part of Hamilton's vaccination strategy," Durlov said. Public health is currently working with local boards to offer vaccine clinics in schools.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference in Sarnia on Tuesday, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said data helps with the overall battle" against COVID-19.
I think the more information that people have, the better," she said. I think full transparency only helps us to encourage people to get the vaccine."
Hamilton's board of health heard on Wednesday that the city's adult and youth vaccination rates are lagging" compared to other public health units and the province. Forecasting shows those age 59 and younger will be the hardest hit in the fourth wave.
As of Aug. 12, about 55 per cent of youth ages 12 to 17 were fully vaccinated, and nearly 71 per cent had a first dose.
Kate McCullough is a Hamilton-based reporter covering education at The Spectator. Reach her via email: kmccullough@thespec.com