Those classrooms across Waterloo Region may be a bit smaller today, as the Region of Waterloo has officially doled out 1,351 suspensions to elementary school students due to out-of-date vaccination records.
It comes one month after a similar move took place for secondary school students, when 704 students were held out of classes and told to stay home.
The region said those impacted students will be permitted to return to school once their vaccination records are brought back up to date, or a valid exemption is put on file.
“Vaccines help protect children from serious illness,” said Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, Medical Officer of Health, Region of Waterloo.
“Keeping students up to date with their vaccinations is an important part of protecting the health of our community.”
Those routine vaccinations are meant to help protect the community from various preventable illnesses, such as measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, meningitis, pertussis (whooping cough), and varicella (chickenpox).
Those vaccinations are required through the Immunization of School Pupils Act, which specifies that all elementary and secondary school students need to have proof of those vaccinations in order to attend classes.
To return to school:
- If your child has received the required vaccines, report them to Public Health at regionofwaterloo.ca/VaccineReporting
- If your child needs vaccines, an exemption, or an in-person record review, book an appointment with Public Health at regionofwaterloo.ca/vaccines. Please note that walk-ins are not available.
- You may also access vaccines through your health care provider. Please call ahead to confirm vaccine availability.
- If you need support or have questions, call Public Health at 519-575-4400. Wait times may be longer than usual due to high call volumes.
“Letters requesting vaccination records were mailed to 9,234 elementary school students with incomplete records between January and February 2026,” the region said in a release.
“Suspension orders were mailed to 7,065 elementary school students whose records remained out of date in March 2026.”
The region has said that those numbers have fallen in line with historical trends previously seen across Waterloo Region.
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