By the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit – Special to the Sydenham Current
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care recently announced a new campaign called “Immunization 2020 – Modernizing Ontario’s Publicly Funded Immunization Program”.
Thanks to vaccines, diseases that were the leading cause of death worldwide 100 years ago are now the cause of less than 5 percent of all deaths in Canada. Vaccines prevent diseases, save lives, and reduce healthcare costs. There is more work to be done and this modernization of the Ontario immunization program gives us new goals to reach by 2020.
The overall goal is to keep Ontarians healthier for generations to come. This goal will focus on 4 key pillars. Access, Connect, Inform and Protect:
– Improve access to immunization services.
– Connect system partners to each other with improved, coordinated and integrated services.
– Inform the public, so that they are well informed and confident about the importance and safety of immunization.
– Protect health through an immunization service that continuously improves its performance, gathers evidence based research and is accountable and sustainable over time.
Here are some examples of how we might reach our “Immunization 2020” goals.
To improve access to immunization services; you may see different providers providing immunizations (i.e. expanded roles for pharmacists).
To connect system partners; a provincial immunization registry will be created to assist health care providers to automatically report immunizations to public health.
To inform; public health units may develop immunization teaching modules and provide immunization education in schools.
To protect; our publicly funded immunization program will have new measures that support continuous quality improvement, such as, decreasing vaccine wastage and improving health care worker immunization rates.
Immunization is part of a healthy lifestyle and an investment in the health of both individuals and communities.
Everyone has a role to play in continuing to build up and strengthen immunization in Ontario.
If you require more information please contact Chatham-Kent Public Health at (519)355-1071 ext. 5900.
