The province provided a three-month update when it comes to the measles catch-up program recently.
Since the program launched back on April 1, 27,747 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12, throughout the province, received both measles, mumps, and rubella shots.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said the program has seen a huge increase in full immunization in students up to grade ten.
“Mature minors can make decisions for themselves and we’ve seen that in very large numbers, very significant numbers in this period,” said Dix. “So, people who may not have had the proper immunization from measles, mumps, and rubella, up to grade ten, they are getting their own agency around health decisions for themselves, they have significantly increased their immunization rates.”
Since the program launched, 590,748 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 have had their immunization records reviewed.
Dix said, “We increased the number of children throughout British Columbia…with both immunization shots, required vaccination shots against measles, mumps, and rubella, that number increased by an impressive 37,525. That’s just for school-aged children, that doesn’t count adults or children who are younger than school age.”
“That means that in British Columbia, among school-aged children, approximately 88 percent had both immunizations,” said Dix.
In the three month period, health authorities throughout BC held 1,053 in-school clinics and 3,584 health clinics in BC communities.
