Education minister concerned by vaccination rates amidst Ontario measles outbreak [Video]

Ontario’s new education minister says vaccination rates among students in some parts of the province are concerning as a measles outbreak continues and some school boards suspend unvaccinated students.

The province has been dealing with a measles outbreak since the end of last year, with hundreds of new cases reported weekly and concern about the spread of the illness, especially among unvaccinated students, growing.

Last week, Ontario reported 155 new measles cases, taking the total number of recorded cases to 816 since the outbreak began. At the same time, authorities, including public health units in Toronto, Ottawa and Waterloo, have started looking to suspend students.

Toronto Public Health said 10,000 students were not up to date on their vaccinations, while the number in Ottawa was around 15,000. Both areas said they had informed unvaccinated students that they needed to update their records or face potential exclusion.

At the beginning of April, Waterloo Public Health …