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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...dren-1.3840856

New measures tighten rules for immunization disclosure by parents but stop short of mandatory vaccinations

By Michelle Bellefontaine, CBC News

Posted: Nov 07, 2016 4:39 PM MT Last Updated: Nov 07, 2016 5:31 PM MT

A new bill aims to improve vaccination rates in school children by tightening the way immunization records are collected and updated.

Alberta parents will be asked to provide immunization records for their children under proposed legislative amendments introduced Monday. But the new measures stop short of mandatory vaccinations.

For decades, legislation has allowed public health officials to tell non-immunized children to stay at home in the event of an outbreak of a communicable disease like measles or whooping cough at their school.

But the process was flawed because authorities didn't have accurate records showing which kids haven't been vaccinated.

Measles outbreak: The loopholes in Canada's vaccination laws
The amendments in Bill 28 aim to change that. Education enrolment records will be cross-referenced with immunization records held by Alberta Health to determine which children have been immunized.

The parents or guardians of children without records will be contacted by public health officials, and informed that unvaccinated students will be required to remain home during outbreaks of certain highly contagious diseases such as measles.

The government hopes the moves will help bring immunization rates to a range of 95 to 98 per cent. In 2015, 87.1 per cent of two-year-old children received their first dose of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

The rate of immunization for chicken pox is 86.6 per cent for children of the same age.