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Ontario parents will soon have to complete an evidenced-based course in the science of vaccination if they want their children to be exempt from immunization requirements in public schools.

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Health Minister Eric Hoskins tabled a bill Thursday that would, if passed, require any parent filing religious or moral objections to complete a course intended to inform them of the importance of immunization, the dangers of foregoing it and the purpose of “herd immunity.”

The bill lands the same week as nearly 600 students were suspended from school in Waterloo Region, according to CTV Kitchener, for outdated or incomplete vaccination records and amid a chicken pox outbreak in Michigan and a whooping cough outbreak in Alberta. While most children can and do survive both those diseases, the purpose of vaccination is two fold: both to stop their spread and to protect children who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons.