By Sheri Ebert

Saskatoon parents reminded to get children under the age of two caught up on vaccinations

Apr 27, 2011 | 2:15 PM

Some Saskatoon and area parents may soon get a letter in the mailbox from the Health Region, reminding them to get all children under the age of two caught up on their vaccinations.

It's estimated that at least 4700 children in the Saskatoon Health Region are behind on at least one or more shot.

On the flip-side, about 76 per cent of local toddlers have received all of their shots. SHR officials want that number to be at least 85 per cent to ensure adequate protection within our community.

Immunization Program Coordinator Sarah Sundquist says levels vary by neighbourhood.

“We do find that the six core neighbourhoods are significantly behind in immunization compared to the affluent neighbourhoods,” said Sundquist. “There's lots of reasons for that. Sometimes it's access to immunization clinics, or the belief in some of the immunization myths that are out there,” Sundquist said Wednesday.

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She says those myths include that it's dangerous for kids to get more than one immunization at a time, or that diseases like measles aren't prevalent. But they lurk with two cases of measles popping up in Regina recently.

And in other cases, consequences have been tragic. Sundquist says five children have died from whooping cough over the past five years in Saskatchewan.

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