The number of Saskatchewan children being vaccinated for whooping cough has fallen below the recommended coverage rates, while the percentage of measles vaccinations sit at the bottom of the recommended range.

According to the Ministry of Health, there is a certain threshold that indicates how prevalent an outbreak may be. When child immunization rates drop below this level, “outbreaks may occur,” said the Ministry.

The recommended coverage percentages are 92-94 per cent for pertussis (whooping cough) and 83-94 per cent for measles. In Saskatchewan, 80.5 per cent of two year olds and 76 per cent of seven year olds have received the adequate doses of the vaccine for an average of 78.25 per cent, 13.75 per cent below the recommended coverage.

Reportedly, 80.5 per cent of two-year-old’s and 90.6 per cent of seven year olds have received the adequate doses of the measles vaccine for an average of 85.55 per cent, which falls into the low range of the recommended coverage by 2.33 per cent.

The reporting system used by the Ministry, Panorama, does not include the vaccines administered through physician’s offices nor emergency departments. Additionally, numbers could further vary as only 26 of the 82 First Nations communities are included in the Panorama data system.

Although there was no recommended coverage rate for meningococcal serogroup C disease (meningitis), as of December 2018, 90.2 per cent of two-year-old’s and 93.4 per cent of seven year old’s had received the vaccination.

If combining all three of the aforementioned vaccines, the same report showed that 78.5 per cent of two-year-old’s had received all three and the amount of seven year olds with all three vaccinations were lower, coming in at a reported 75.6 per cent.

Influenza vaccines, however, have seen an increase over last year for the reporting period from October to January. From October 2018 to January 2019, there were 325,000 vaccines administered which is a 15-per-cent increase from the same period the year prior.

Since September 2018, there have been 2156 confirmed cases of the flu in Saskatchewan as of February 9, 2019. December saw the highest number with 358 cases being reported from December 9 to 15th and 1211 cases total for the month.