What Is Human Papilloma Virus
Human papilloma virus, also known as HPV, is a common virus with over 150 subtypes, each designated by its own number. It is transmitted by skin to skin contact with someone who is infected with HPV. Often, transmission is through sexual contact but other means of contact can result in transmission.
There are high-risk and low-risk types of this virus, and HPV can cause a number of infections. According to CancerCare Manitoba, over 80 per cent of Canadians will have at least one HPV infection in their lifetime.1
Most HPV infections go away by themselves within two years. However, HPV infections sometimes last longer, and later in life can lead to cancers in both men and women.
The HPV vaccine protects against many of the high-risk types of HPV infection. You can protect your child from ever developing these infections or cancers by ensuring they get the HPV vaccine as early as possible.
If an HPV vaccine is received before exposure, it is almost 100 per cent effective in preventing infection. HPV vaccine is recommended at ages 11 to 12 to ensure children are protected before they are potentially exposed to the virus.
1CancerCare Manitoba: Human Papilloma Virus & the Vaccine: www.cancercare.mb.ca/screening/cervix. Accessed May 24, 2019
Vaccinations For Visitors And Volunteers
Schools and early childhood education can invite visitors including parents, carers and families to their sites regardless of their vaccination status, in line with settings in the broader community.
Workers and volunteers, including parents and carers, are still required to meet mandatory double vaccination requirements including:
- volunteers or staff operating uniform shops and canteens
- visitors supporting school operations and curriculum delivery
- allied health partners for the wellbeing of students
- university and TAFE students coming on school sites to complete their practicum or teacher training.
Where a worker or volunteer has a medical contraindication, the following process is to be followed:
- Workers or volunteers will need to provide a medical contraindication form to the school prior to the visit. The contraindication form must be one of the following used by medical practitioners in NSW:
- NSW COVID-19 vaccine medical contraindication form
Youve Been Vaccinated Now Prove It
Critics raise logistical and privacy concerns over vaccine documentation.
He cited several reasons for opposing a student COVID-19 vaccine requirement, including reports that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were followed by higher-than-expected incidents of temporary myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, in males between 16 and 29.
He also noted that children have generally had a milder experience with COVID-19 than adults. Consequently, he said he doesnt feel the government should be forcing parents to vaccinate their children against COVID-19.
Philosophically and as health professional, these types of medical decisions should be left up to parents for their children, he said. Still, Standridge said hes not interested in rolling back other school vaccine requirements.
New Hampshire state Rep. Timothy Lang Sr., also a Republican, sponsored a new law that prevents any public facility, including prisons, government offices, universities and public schools, from requiring a COVID-19 vaccine. However, the law does contain a provision that would allow the state commissioner of Health and Human Services to add the COVID-19 shots to the list of mandatory K-12 inoculations.
Lang, too, said, the decision whether to inoculate should be up to individuals, not government.
This really comes down to body autonomy, Lang said, though he added that people who choose not to be vaccinated should be even more scrupulous about observing masking and social distancing measures.
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Final Push To Protect Kids Before School
The Victorian Government is making sure families have every opportunity to get their children aged 5-11 vaccinated before Term 1 starts with more options than ever to get kids protected, close to home.
State-run vaccination clinics will accept walk-ups for the paediatric vaccine, with Victoria’s state-run system expanding to include walk-up access for children aged 5 to 11.
Since they began on 10 January, vaccinations for this age group have been booking only, and walk-ups will be limited to select sites due to the added complexity of child immunisation and the need for specialist immunisers.
Initial walk-up locations for children will include Dandenong Plaza, Caroline Springs, Sunshine Hospital and Campbellfield Ford Complex. Children aged 5 to 11 who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander can already walk-up with their parents, carers or guardians to any site to get vaccinated.
In addition, the first 15 school pop-ups will open in primary schools right across Victoria this weekend to deliver more doses in local communities before school returns with the other 15 clinics to open next weekend.
Schools running pop-up clinics this weekend include:
- Kennington PS
- South Melbourne PS
- Wyndham Vale PS
The Government has also had more than 240 applications under a new $4 million grants program to help local doctors and community pharmacies go into schools to deliver the vaccine in a familiar and trusted environment for children, close to home.
Risk Assessment And Mitigation For Covid
The risk associated with transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in school-based settings is based on a variety of factors, such as local community and school epidemiology, characteristics of the setting , as well as the people accessing the setting, and should be assessed in advance of organizing in-person programs or operations. Vaccines lower the risk of severe outcomes even if some transmission occurs, and assessing overall risk should take this into account. When considering implementation of PHMs, it is also important to consider unintended consequences of interventions and weigh COVID-19 risks against other potential harms .
PHACâs Reducing COVID-19 risk in community settings: A tool for operators risk mitigation tool has been designed to assist operators and administrators of various community settings, including schools, to assess the risk of COVID-19 in community settings based on: local COVID-19 activity, physical characteristics of the setting, people who access the setting, and the activities and interactions that take place in the setting. The tool allows users to identify mitigation strategies to reduce the risk of COVID-19 within their specific setting.
As well, schools should work closely with their local transportation authority and regional/local PHAs in the implementation of transportation related risk mitigation measures. Regional/local PHAs will provide advice on what individual and community-based PHMs are required, based on local circumstances.
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From The Australian Immunisation Register
Parents and guardians will be sent an Immunisation History Statement from the AIR when their child turns 5 years old, but a Statement can be requested at any time.
Parents or guardians should contact the AIR if they:
- are moving or have recently moved, to ensure their contact details are up to date
- think their childs statement is incomplete or incorrect.
You can print a copy of your childs Immunisation History Statement from your myGov account. If you have difficulty getting a copy via your myGov account you can:
- visit a Medicare or Centrelink office.
Families who do not hold a Medicare card must call the AIR to request an Immunisation History Statement.
A Translating and Interpreting Service is available by calling 131 450, Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 4:45pm.
What Are The Arguments For Vaccine Exemptions
Medical exemptions prevent kids from getting vaccines that might be unsafe for them. Conditions that weaken the immune system, such as a child with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, and severe vaccine allergies are somewhat rare, so few children need these exemptions.
People who seek personal exemptions say they have a right to decide whether their children should be vaccinated. Vaccine safety is one concern behind exemptions. Some parents fear that the risks of vaccines outweigh the benefits. Most of these worries are based on information they’ve seen online or in other media, or that they’ve heard from friends. A commonly cited belief among anti-vaccine groups is that vaccines can cause autism. That belief is based on a 1997 study by a British doctor that was published in the journal The Lancet. The study has since been discredited many times, the doctor lost their medical license, and The Lancet retracted the report. Since then, numerous other studies have found no connection between vaccines and autism.
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What Are Religious Exemptions
This exemption allows parents to opt their child out of vaccines based on their religious beliefs.
Some states ask for evidence that the family belongs to a religious group that objects to vaccines. Only a few religions object to vaccines, including Christian Scientists and some faith healing groups. But in most states with this provision, you can simply sign a form stating that you have religious reasons to opt out.
‘more Information Is Better Than Less’
Toronto infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CTV News Channel on Thursday that greater transparency and information sharing would “do wonders” as far as building public trust, even if the data is imperfect or limited, or the news isn’t good.
“More information is better than less information, and I think parents would want to know significantly earlier than when 30 per cent of students or staff are away,” he said.
Most people in a school community will likely know an outbreak has occurred long before 30 per cent of students and staff are absent, Bogoch says.
But given the relatively low rates of vaccination among children, he says every possible barrier to “bringing the vaccines to the people, not bringing people to the vaccines” needs to be lowered.
“It’s not sufficient for senior political leaders or senior public health leaders to go on mainstream media or social media and say, ‘Hey, please get vaccinated.’ That doesn’t work,” Bogoch said.
“You really have to communicate with people in an age, language and culturally appropriate manner. This is behavioural change, we’re asking people to do something, so we have to be honest with the message, with the data.”
With files from CTV News Toronto
As schools return in places across the country, its important that we make sure our kids, their teachers, and our communities are protected. So, if you havent signed your kids up to get vaccinated, please do that today.
Justin Trudeau
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Can Individual Schools Issue Their Own Requirements
Because states enact vaccine requirements to protect public health, school vaccine requirements generally apply to public and private K-12 schools, and also to daycare facilities. Only a handful of states require college and university students to be vaccinated, so in practice, determining and enforcing vaccine requirements is usually up to individual higher education institutions.
A growing number of colleges and universities have announced that they will require all students who plan to be on campus to receive the COVID vaccine. Other institutions are requiring the vaccine only for students who want to live in dorms. However, at least one state legislature Michigans is considering barring state universities from requiring vaccines as a condition of taking in-person classes, contending a vaccine requirement would infringe on matters of individual choice.
This raises the interesting question of whether an individual school district, like an individual college or university, could require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
When school vaccine requirements began in the late 19th century, the goal was to prevent the spread of smallpox. , 15 states and Washington, D.C., required students to receive the smallpox vaccine, and 21 other states allowed local governments such as school districts and county health departments to impose such a requirement.
This article was updated with the CDCs endorsement.
Changes Made To The School
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, school-based vaccination was suspended in many Québec schools in 2020 and 2021. A catch-up vaccination will be done for students in Grade 5 of primary school and Secondary 4 of high school who have not received the necessary doses of vaccine, in addition to the vaccination activities scheduled in the school-based vaccination program.
At the request of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec, provincial experts have evaluated the best strategies to resume vaccination in schools. The school-based vaccination program has been reviewed, based on the experts recommendations.
Since September 2020, for the school-based vaccination program a single visit is planned to vaccinate children in Grade 4 of primary school. During this visit, your child will receive two doses of vaccine:
- One dose of hepatitis A and B vaccine
- One dose of HPV vaccine .
A second dose of hepatitis A and B vaccine and HPV vaccine will be given in Secondary 3.
These changes are based on the following facts:
- The experts consider that a 5-year interval between the 2 of these vaccines provides the same protection against those diseases as when the doses are given at a 6-month interval, as done previously
- A single dose of HPV and hepatitis A and B vaccines offers good protection against these diseases
- In children under 15 years old, the risk of HPV infection and of hepatitis A and B is very low.
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How Is It Decided Which Age And Grade Gets The Vaccines Why One Grade And Not The Other
The recommended schedule is designed to protect children before they are exposed to vaccine-preventable diseases. Many factors go into determining when immunizations are offered. The School Immunization Program is based on the optimal time for a person to be best protected, and this can be disease specific.
Scientific evidence is analyzed regularly to review the safety, effectiveness and cost of all immunization programs or new immunizations that may be available. Those factors, along with competing provincial priorities, can affect eligibility of vaccines for one population or age group over another.
When Will I Receive Information About The Vaccines Offered At School
Information is generally made available during the first few weeks of term 1. All students in Years 8 and 10 will be given an information pack to take home to their parents.
The information pack provides details about the relevant diseases, the benefits of immunisation and common side effects of the vaccines which will be offered. A consent card is also included for parents to complete and return to the school. In South Australia, students may consent for themselves if they are aged 16 years or older.
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Why You Should Vaccinate
Infectious diseases can spread among children and adolescents at school who are not vaccinated. As a parent, you can keep your kids healthy with routine health care and vaccines. Make sure your school-age children are up-to-date with their vaccinations.
Infection from certain diseases can kill or seriously harm your child. Vaccines use weakened or killed virus or bacteria to trigger your childs natural immune response to provide long-term protection against a disease . It is like a rehearsal for the immune system, so your child is prepared if they are exposed to the “real” disease.
Vaccinations are safe
Vaccinations do not cause autism.
Scientific studies and reviews continue to show no relationship between vaccines and autism.
Some people wont develop immunity to a disease after being vaccinated, but the vaccine itself cannot infect someone. If a vaccinated individual does contract a disease which they were vaccinated against, their illness will be less severe.
How Do Vaccines Work
The dead or weakened germs in vaccines help your child’s immune system to make two important tools: antibodies and immune memory. Together, these tools will help your child recognize and fight off the germs if exposed to them in the future.
Most children are fully protected after they are vaccinated. This means that they will never get serious vaccine-preventable diseases.
In rare cases, children who are vaccinated can still get the disease because they only get partial protection from the vaccine. This is more common in children with a health problem that affects their immune system. They may develop mild symptoms if they are exposed to a disease, but will not suffer serious complications.
It’s just like… seatbelts are not 100% effective at protecting you while driving, but they significantly reduce your risk of being injured.
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What Our Experts Recommend
Its a worrying time, once again, for families in South Asia.
With a new variant circulating , it can be difficult knowing the best thing to do for your child.
Weve gathered questions from parents across the region and asked our health and education experts for their recommendations. Here’s what they said:
Can children go to school when the virus is circulating?
Yes. But with safety measures in place.
Children can safely attend school in person if sensible safety precautions are put in place. For example, physical distancing, access to soap and clean water, regular handwashing, ventilation of classrooms, sanitizing of surfaces and protective and screening equipment like masks and thermometers.
Its also important that schools consider the level of COVID-19 transmission in the local area in their operational decisions. Nationwide school closures must be avoided whenever possible.
School closures have already cost children in South Asia too much. An estimated 434 million children have been impacted and the results have been devastating.
Learning loss alone has been huge.
But school is more than just a building for learning. The services, experiences and relationships children benefit from in school are core to their wellbeing. And when classrooms close, they leave a void in childrens lives, which affects their physical and mental health.
We know the impact school closures have on children and we know that mitigation measures help keep schools safe.