March 21, 2025
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Honourable Sylvia Jones
Minister of Health of Ontario
Ministry of Health
5th Floor, 777 Bay Street
Toronto, ON M5G 2C8
Honourable Kamal Khera
Minister of Health of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Re: Support for a Provincial Immunization Registry
Dear Honourable Minister Jones and Honourable Minister Khera:
First, let me congratulate both of you on your respective reappointments to Cabinet.
Minister Jones, our team has valued its partnership with you since your key role on the COVID-19 immunization roll-out, and we look forward to
continuing to work with you on immunzaton issues, such as outlined in this letter.
Minister Khera, as you rejoin Cabinet now as the Minister of Health, we are excited to have the opportunity to engage with someone who
worked on the front lines of COVID-19 immunizations can will have familiarity with the on-the-ground challenges we hope to partner with both your governments to address.
At its meeting on January 16, 2025, our Board of Health carried the following resolution #06-25:
WHEREAS neither Ontario nor Canada currently have a reliable, complete or timely way to record immunization information for residents;
WHEREAS a national immunization registry has been a longstanding recommendation for strengthening public health in Canada;
WHEREAS in September 2024, the Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee released a position statement strongly urging the Ontario Ministry of Health to develop a provincial immunization registry; and
WHEREAS Peterborough Public Health (Motion 9.3.6) and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (Resolution 32) have also passed motions to support a provincial immunization registry;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Board of Health endorses the establishment and implementation of an Immunization Registry for Ontario;
AND THAT the Board of Health supports the establishment of a pan-Canadian immunization registry that integrates with any provincial registries.
Currently, it is not known how many Ontarians and Canadians are vaccinated for various diseases. Such diseases, including measles, polio, and pertussis, have been re-emerging globally, necessitating action to protect our populations. The efforts around measles are particularly salient, given the sizeable outbreak currently in Ontario, as well as an outbreak in Quebec. However, without a registry, we cannot effectively measure or monitor our successes or gaps in vaccination; to a great extent, we are working “blind”.
Immunization registries would enable better protecting Canadians and Ontarians from these diseases, as well as ongoing infectious threats such as influenza, RSV, and COVID-19. And registries would position us better to respond to future infectious emergencies and pandemics.
The Board encourages the province to move forward with the recommendation of the Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee to establish a provincial immunization registry.
However, infections do not respect provincial and territorial borders. So the Board of health further encourages the federal government to establish a pan-Canadian immunization registry that would integrate with provincial registries, such as the one we hope Ontario will design.
The Board would be pleased to offer any support we can to your governments in these endeavours, and the staff of Public Health Sudbury & Districts are available to help in any way they can. We hope to work in partnership to make our communities safer and healthier.
Sincerely,
Mark Signoretti
Chair, Board of Health
cc: Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada
Heather Jeffrey, President of the Public Health Agency of Canada
Michael Sherar, President of Public Health Ontario and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health
Dr. M. M. Hirji, Acting Medical Officer of Health and CEO, Public Health Sudbury & Districts
Viviane Lapointe, Local Member of Parliament, Sudbury
Marc Serré, Local Member of Parliament, Nickel Belt
Carol Hugues, Local Member of Parliament, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing
France Gélinas, Local Member of Provincial Parliament, Nickel Belt
Jamie West, Local Member of Provincial Parliament, Sudbury
Bill Rosenberg, Local Member of Provincial Parliament, Algoma–Manitoulin
Ontario Boards of Health