Natasha Crowcroft, chief science officer at Public Health Ontario, will lead the centre. In an interview, Dr. Crowcroft said vaccine hesitancy, defined as refusal or wariness of vaccination, is a growing threat and that measles outbreaks in places such as New York could easily happen here
“We’ve been lucky,” Dr. Crowcroft said, referring to the fact that Ontario has not had a major measles outbreak. “We probably do need to raise our game.”
While vaccine coverage rates are relatively high in most of Canada, there are problem areas. Earlier this year, two schools in British Columbia had outbreaks of measles. But vaccination data in Canada tend to be patchy, meaning researchers don’t necessarily know where pockets of unvaccinated people are.
Using that sort of information to create public-health strategies will be a key part of the work at the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Dr. Crowcroft said. She added that she hopes researchers at the new centre can find ways to improve vaccination data and boost coverage rates, create strategies to reach people who reject vaccination for their children, and teach new doctors how to communicate effectively with parents about the benefits of vaccines.
She also hopes to develop a program at the University of Toronto to educate students about vaccination and the misconceptions around it. For instance, she noted that many fiction stories portray vaccinations in a negative light. She also hopes to do more work on how vaccination can be used to help keep seniors healthy longer.The centre will have funding from several sources including the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Public Health Ontario.
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