The Day Nurseries Act Section 33(1) requires that, 

"Every operator shall ensure that before a child is admitted to a day nursery operated by the operator or to a location where private-home day care is provided by the operator, and from time to time thereafter, the child is immunized as recommended by the local medical officer of health." 

In Peterborough County, the following immunizations are mandatory for children enrolled in Child Care Facilities* : diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella and haemophilus influenzae type b (Appendix B). 

* Child Care Facilities refer to ". . . . premises that receive more than five children who are not of common parentage, primarily for the purpose of providing temporary care, or guidance, or both temporary care and guidance, for a continuous period not exceeding twenty-four hours, where the children are, 

i) under eighteen years of age in the case of a day nursery for children with a developmental handicap; and 

ii) under ten years of age in all other cases,. . . " 

Exceptions are in situations where a parent has filed, with the Medical Officer of Health, a letter of medical exemption signed by a physician (Appendix C) or a letter indicating refusal of immunization due to conscience or religious belief. These exemption letters only apply while the
child is in child care. 

The Act Section 62 (1) also requires, 

"Every operator of a day nursery shall ensure that, prior to commencing employment, each person employed in each day nursery operated by the operator has a health assessment and immunization as recommended by the local medical officer of health." 

In Peterborough County the staff employed must be appropriately protected against tetanus, diphtheria, measles, mumps and rubella (Appendix K). 

Subsections (2) to (4) address exemptions and private-home day care requirements. 

The responsibility for immunization in the Day Nurseries Act is delegated to the Medical Officer of Health. 
 
 

Procedure Used to Obtain Immunization Information
Vaccine Preventable Disease Program staff meet with or call the owners/operators during the year to discuss the process of immunization information collection and to arrange for access to required data. Facilities are asked to provide: 

1. demographic and immunization information on all new children (Appendix A), 

2. transfers and address changes; and, 

3. annual enrollment list. 

Request for immunization information forms are mailed to parents of children who are inadequately immunized or if no immunization information is available. The information collected is entered into IRIS. If the Health Unit does not receive the required information within the time frame requested on the forms, a letter signed by the Medical Officer of Health (Appendix L) is mailed to the parent. This letter advises that the child will not be permitted to attend the facility after a specified date. Owners/Operators will be contacted on the suspension date and advised to refuse the child admittance. The child may return to the facility only when the owner/operator has been notified of compliance by Health Unit staff. 

Those child care facilities that were in the process of receiving notices towards the end of one school year will be reviewed first in the following school year. 
 
 

Procedure to Exclude Children from Child Care in the Event of an Outbreak 
Vaccine Preventable Disease Program staff will contact the owner/operator in the event of a suspected or confirmed outbreak at the facility. A class list/close contact list will be requested to allow Vaccine Preventable Disease staff to contact parents. In the event that exclusion of students is necessary, staff will deliver exclusion letters and explanatory material (Appendices M, N) to the owner/operator for distribution to parents. Children will not be permitted to attend the facility until the period of high risk has ended. Health Unit staff will advise the operator when the child(ren) can return to the facility.