The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) is reporting a decline in child vaccination rates; however, it has not updated the public with immunization data in over 40 months, prompting concerns from at least one public health researcher.
“This is bread and butter public health, and public health needs to be based on good, publicly available data — that's really the foundation of public health,” said Simon Fraser University health policy researcher and PhD candidate Andrew Longhurst.
The centre typically updates its Childhood Immunization Coverage Dashboard annually, informing the public of rates across each health region.
In 2020, the last immunization period the centre has published, 69 per cent of seven-year-old children had been fully immunized for diseases — such as polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal C and hepatitis B — that are no longer common in developed countries as a result of mass immunization.
In December 2022, the centre proclaimed it would be updating the dashboard soon, as the COVID-19 pandemic had caused bureaucratic delays.
Now, only 66 per cent of children are up to date, according to the centre’s spokesperson Heather Amos, who was only able to provide Glacier Media with the provincewide figure.
And, Amos stated, of those who are not up to date, “a significant proportion have no documentation” and “the proportion of children with documented refusals to all vaccines has been relatively stable, at just over one per cent.”
BCCDC chief medical officer Jason Wong and Health Minister Adrian Dix both declined to speak to Glacier Media about what amounts to a 40-month delay in publicly accessible data.
“We’re not tracking in the right direction,” said Longhurst, noting “we’re at a concerning time where we’re seeing a lot of pathogens and viruses we used to have quite well contained and controlled starting to make their way back to our schools and daycares.”
Longhurst also said the increase in undocumented children is a symptom of the B.C. health-care system’s fractured information gathering system.
“It’s befuddling that in 2024 the province doesn’t have a central dashboard to look at all the vaccination rates,” said Longhurst, noting if a child is immunized by a family doctor it doesn’t show up in public health records.
“We have a big problem with electronic health records; we lack that basic functionality,” added Longhurst.
Longhurst has, however, retrieved an up-to-date school immunization data chart for Vancouver Coastal Health.
That chart shows zero vaccine coverage of 4.9 per cent in 2022/2023 for Grade 6 students, compared to 2.2 per cent in 2018/2019. (This includes children who may have been immunized but records have not been provided.)
Amos noted public health officials are nevertheless in receipt of up-to-date immunization data in each community.
“While the reports have not yet been posted to the website, health partners have access to the findings for planning purposes. There has been significant effort since the pandemic to catch up children who missed routine immunizations during the early part of the pandemic when schools closed and health-care workers were prioritizing the COVID-19 response,” stated Amos. No explanation as to why the complete data hasn’t been published was given.
But Longhurst said it is vital for a public health system to publish the records and do so in a timely manner.
“The public interest is better served when they know what is happening in their community,” said Longhurst.
“I think we saw this play out just with outbreaks around COVID-19. And sometimes there was an unwillingness to share that because of, for a variety of reasons.
“But I think, you know, for people, for families and individuals, especially those who may have family members who face a variety of different health conditions or maybe immunocompromised children, this is important information.”
Longhurst expressed concern of vaccine misinformation continuing to spread online, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic; and he said he’s concerned public health officials in B.C. are not taking a stronger stance, with a laissez-faire approach to updating the coverage dashboard as an indication.
“I think one of the problems we’re seeing is a reluctance to even want to talk about or advocate for school-based immunization clinics because of potential backlash,” said Longhurst.
In Amos’ response to Glacier Media's questions, she underscored the benefits of routine vaccines and how parents can assist: “Vaccines protect children against diseases that can cause serious illness, long-term disability, and even death. Before we start the next school year, we encourage parents to ensure their children are up to date with all recommended immunizations. Parents and caregivers should also check that their child's immunization records are up to date in the provincial immunization registry and submit any missing records to the registry.”
