Halton Public Health is cracking down on high school students with incomplete immunization records.

Nearly 1,300 Halton grade 11 and 12 students in public, Catholic and private high schools across the region will be mailed notices of suspension starting Tuesday. The notices will be mailed to the students and their parents.

Students who have not provided either up-to-date immunized records or a legal exemption to the health department will face a 20-day suspension from April 6 to May 3, confirmed Paula Burghgraef, manager oral health and immunization.

Halton has sent reminder notices annually of the importance of having immunization records kept up-to-date, but Burghgraef said this marks the first year in some time that it is cracking the whip with suspension notices.

There are 13,975 students in the 1998/99 cohort in Halton Region. In early December 2015 there were 4,536 students with incomplete immunization records on file with the health department. That number has been whittled down to the 1,272 about to receive suspension notices.

Burghgraef said the 20-school day suspension can be lifted at any time once the student's immunization record is brought up-to-date or the required exemption form is provided.

"Parents have the option. They can immunize, that is something we promote because we want to make our community as protected as possible. But parents can complete a conscious exemption form if they do not philosophically agree with immunization. Or there is a third option for a medical exemption if their child can't be immunized for medical reasons."

Burghgraef said recently vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and pertussis, have crept back into the community.

"The best way to protect our community is through immunization," she said.

Burghgraef said the immunization record backlog takes places because parents wrongly assume the immunization updates will be automatically sent to public health through a health care provider.

"Parents are required to submit this information. Often times it's just that we don't do it," she said.

"Our goal is to get these children back into school. We don't want to keep them out and longer than necessary.

Burghgraef said Halton launched an ongoing communications program targeting parents, physicians, nurses and community partners.

Hamilton Public Health operates differently. For this school year, Hamilton public health is focusing on screening records of children born in 1998 and 2008. These students, from both the public, Catholic and French-speaking boards, as well as private schools, are past the age where they should have received their 4-6 year and 14-16 year vaccines.

The two vaccines for 4- to 6-year-olds are for eight diseases (measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, polio). The vaccine for 14- to 16-year-olds is for three diseases (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis).

City spokesperson Aisling Higgins said that, from September 2015 to February 29, 2016, Hamilton public health issued 5,443 letters to parents of children born in 1998 and 2008 who are at risk of suspension due to not having up-to-date vaccination records. It is projected that by the end of the school year, an additional 2,500 letters will be issued.

There was no immediate information on the number of Hamilton students who have been suspended.

Peel has already suspended nearly 2,900 high school students in 2015-16 — with elementary school suspensions set to begin in March.

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Toronto has begun sending out warning notices for missing vaccination information to more than 45,000 students, while Durham issued warnings to more than 14,000 students last fall.

York Region's health unit reported this month that a whopping 61 per cent of seven-year-olds have out-of-date immunization records and "could be suspended" if they aren't updated.

For most local health departments, this is the first time they will be enforcing suspensions since the province introduced three new vaccines into the immunization schedule in 2014. They all stress that suspensions, while mandated by law, are the last resort after months of notification through letters.