Employees of 45 of Ontario’s largest school boards have filed medical exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine at a rate 42 times higher on average than the exemption rate the province’s top doctor says would be expected in the population. general.
A Star analysis of immunization data at these boards has found that 521 staff members have provided a documented medical reason for not being fully vaccinated out of a total of 247,335 people covered by the boards’ vaccination disclosure policies. That works out to a rate of about one in 475 people.
But the rate of legitimate medical exemptions granted in the province, based on the true incidence of adverse reactions to the vaccine, should be between one and five in 100,000, or 0.005 percent at the high end, according to Ontario’s medical director of health. . Dr. Kieran Moore.
“Actual indications for medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines are extremely rare,” said Dr. Peter Juni, epidemiologist and chief scientific officer of the Ontario COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Board. “Compared to what we would expect, these numbers are tremendously high.”
Juni added that he suspects that if we could know how many medical exemptions are being granted to the general population, that number would also be higher than the expected one to five in 100,000. He said he believes some doctors and nurse practitioners are granting waivers too easily.
Ontario publicly funded school board employees must provide administrators with proof of a COVID-19 vaccine or a documented medical reason why they cannot receive one. Those who choose not to receive the vaccine must complete rapid tests twice a week and an educational program on the benefits of vaccines. Failure to comply may result in suspension without pay.
There is no vaccination mandate for education workers in Ontario, so monitoring vaccination rates among staff and the number of people exempted from receiving the vaccine is one way that boards assess the risk of transmission in schools. schools, particularly for students under the age of 12 who remain unvaccinated. . A recent Star analysis of vaccination rates at 31 major public school boards found that it is virtually impossible for parents to know teacher vaccination rates because the boards do not disaggregate the data by job category.
School board employees are not the only workers in Ontario who must provide their immunization status to their employers; Vaccination disclosure policies also apply to other groups, including hospital workers, home and community care service providers, long-term care workers, and the police.
At University Health Network, for example, 70 people of the 17,100 expected to be fully vaccinated have applied for a medical exemption, according to spokeswoman Gillian Howard. Of these, two were granted and 12 are awaiting information from specialists, he said. The remaining 56 were denied.
It is unclear whether publicly funded school board employees have the highest rate of providing medical exemptions because not all other sectors that require vaccine disclosure publicly report medical exemption data (Star had to ask UHN for their numbers).
And just because someone files an exception with their employer doesn’t mean they’ll get one. Some boards told the Star that they look at all exemptions submitted by employees to validate medical reasons.
Any doctor or nurse practitioner who is up to date with their respective colleges can write a letter explaining why a person needs a medical exemption.
Earlier this month, Moore explained that medical exemptions are granted for two main reasons: a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient in the vaccine (which must be confirmed by an allergist), which carries a risk of about one in 100,000; and pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac that surrounds the heart, or myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart itself, which carries a risk of about one to five per 100,000.
“Roughly, if you put those estimates together, we should be seeing medical exemptions of about one to five per 100,000 (0.005 percent),” Moore told reporters on October 5, adding that he has heard reports of exemptions granted in a lot. higher rates of one or two percent, levels that he says warrant a review.
“Certainly, we have tried to educate the physicians, nurse practitioners who fill out these forms to make sure they are aware of the two main exemptions for these vaccines.”
The only other current medical exemption for the vaccine in Ontario is for those actively receiving monoclonal antibody therapy or convalescent plasma therapy to treat or prevent COVID-19.
Health Ministry spokesman Bill Campbell wrote in an emailed statement that health professionals could lose their license if they provide falsified information.
“Our government will continue to review data and evidence and act as necessary to limit transmission and protect the health and safety of Ontarians,” he added.
Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons spokesperson Shae Greenfield said the regulator has communicated to physicians who expect medical exemptions to provide a “clear clinical rationale”, consistent with Guidelines of the Ministry of Health.
“Deliberately providing patients with exemption documentation that does not meet the ministry’s criteria or providing exemptions to circumvent vaccination mandates could constitute a serious offense,” he said in an emailed statement.
“We take these matters very seriously and, whenever we become aware of the allegations, we will take all necessary steps to investigate. “
To date, the university has ordered three doctors to stop writing medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines, as well as for testing and masking, Greenfield said.
The issue of medical exemptions has also entered the political arena. Earlier this month, provincial progressive conservatives were faced with questions about how two of their then 70 MPPs (a 2.9 percent rate) were able to get waivers for the vaccine. NDP leader Andrea Horwath called the waivers “statistically curious.” One of the two MPPs, Lindsey Park, resigned from the caucus on Friday citing a “breach of trust.”
As of Friday, the school board with the highest rate of employees granting medical exemptions was the Grand Erie District School Board, which covers Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk counties. Of the 3,375 staff members to whom the vaccination disclosure policy applies, 23 have provided a documented medical reason for not getting vaccinated, or 0.68 percent. That rate is 136 times higher than what would be expected in the general population.
Spokesperson Dave Smouter wrote in an email that the board has a small team that is following up with these people to review their documentation. This process is guided by “generally accepted standards of what constitutes a valid exemption.”
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board has the second-highest rate, with 48 exemptions filed out of a total of 7,144 employees, or 0.67 percent.
Spokesman Shawn McKillop said the board’s human resources department “continues to work through a third-party waiver review process now with all employees who have vouched for such waiver.”
Thirty staff members out of a total of 11,923 (0.25 percent) have been approved for medical or religious exemptions to the vaccine at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, according to spokesman Darcy Knoll, and the board is in the works. reviewing more than 50 exemption requests. He didn’t have a breakdown of how many were religious versus medical.
The Toronto District School Board had a comparatively low rate of five approved exemptions of 39,845 employees, or 0.01 percent, and the Peel District School Board had 32 of 24,036 employees, or 0.13 percent.
Three of the school boards surveyed by Star – Conseil scolaire catholique Providence, Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and Rainbow District School Board – did not have any medical exemptions.
Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, an Ottawa-based family physician who has organized “Jabapalooza” vaccine clinics, said she has rejected several requests for exemptions from her own patients.
There should be a formal centralized process for every exemption letter, across all sectors, to be reviewed, he said, to prevent abuse of the system.
“If it turns out to be someone who refuses to get the vaccine, they are likely hanging out with other unvaccinated people,” he said. All of this ends up “increasing the risk that someone will bring COVID into the classroom and put the children in their classroom at risk.”
Reference-www.thestar.com