By Victor Kaisar

Vaccine Records

Health officials urging parents to check children’s vaccination records ahead of new school year

Aug 31, 2025 | 3:32 PM

KAMLOOPS — As kids prepare to head back to the classroom on Tuesday (Sept. 2), Interior Health officials are asking parents to check their child’s immunization records to ensure its up to date.

“As children return to school, they are spending more time indoors and interacting closely with others, which increases the risk of exposure to measles and other infectious diseases if a case arises,” Medical Health Officer, Dr. Sanaz Vaseghi said, in a statement.

British Columbia’s Deputy Provincial Health Officer also urged parents to ensure their kids are up to date on their vaccines against not just measles, but mumps and rubella, polio, pertussis (whopping cough) and chickenpox as well.

“Children will soon start to gather in schools or child care spaces, and they will interact with more people from outside of their household. This means they will be more exposed to various infectious diseases,” Dr. Martin Lavoie said, in a separate statement.

Lavoie said health officials in B.C. and across Canada are seeing “significant increases” in measles cases in particular. In June, Premier David Eby said the spread of measles is “the sadly predictable outcome” of the “recklessness” of anti-vaccination politicians.

Week In Review

Week in Review: Week of March 30

4h ago

SOUND OFF

SOUND OFF: Removing bathroom doors at Barriere Secondary increases safety concerns

Apr 02, 2026

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: April 2, 2026

Apr 02, 2026

According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC), as of Aug. 28, there have been 233 confirmed measles cases since the beginning of the year and another 19 probable cases. Nine of those cases were active – eight in Northern Health and one in Fraser Health.

The vast majority of cases in the province – 187 – have been in Northern Health, and they’ve been reported in the last three months. Interior Health has seen 17 total cases, some of which have been in Kamloops, though none are considered to be active any longer.

“Getting your children vaccinated is the best way to protect them from vaccine-preventable illnesses that can cause serious illness, long-term disability and even death,” Lavoie added, noting children under 18 years are eligible for publicly funded vaccines to protect against more than a dozen diseases, such as influenza, polio, measles, chickenpox and COVID-19.

“Two doses of measles vaccine are almost 100 per cent effective in preventing this serious illness and protection lasts a lifetime,” Vaseghi added.

Lavoie said parents and guardians can book appointments for their children at a health unit or at some doctor or nurse-practitioner offices. Children over four years of age can also get vaccinated at some pharmacies.

“School-age children are routinely offered the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in Grade 6, and tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis and meningitis vaccines in Grade 9 at clinics held in schools,” Lavoie said.

Health officials say parents and caregivers should check their child’s immunization records through Health Gateway or through their local public health unit or family doctor.

More information about measles can be found here.