Measles vaccination: VCH to send letters to North Shore parents

You may soon get mail from your health agency.

Vancouver Coastal Health is sending letters to parents and guardians of children in North Shore to protect kids from measles and raise awareness about it in the community.

The letter campaign is part of the measles immunization catch-up program to help B.C. families ensure their children are protected from measles. The program will run from April through June of 2019.

Most children in BC are immune to measles because they have had two doses of vaccine, according to the health agency.

The letter campaign is for students from kindergarten to Grade 12 who have had no dose or only one dose of measles-containing vaccine, or for whom the agency has no immunization records for.

The agency is also sending letters to parents of kids for whom the name and date of birth are not exactly the same as in health and school records. The letter would also reach parents who have recently moved to the area and VCH doesn’t have their records.

“If your child has not had two doses of measles vaccine, I highly recommend you get your child immunized. Your child can receive vaccine at a Community Health Center, or from their family physician or a local pharmacist,” says Geoff McKee, a medical health officer with the agency.

VCH is sending letters to as many as 14,000 parents and guardians in cities that fall in its jurisdiction.

Measles is a highly infectious disease that spreads through the air. Close contact is not needed for transmission. The disease can also be spread through sharing food, drinks, cigarettes, or kissing an infected person.

There have been 27 confirmed cases of measles in the province to date this year.