Starting next week, Ontario families will benefit from new free vaccines that will help keep our kids healthy and save parents money. 

Premier Dalton McGuinty was at The Hospital for Sick Children where he spoke about two new free vaccines for infants and the expanded availability of two others. 

Improvements to the province’s immunization program include:  

§        A new oral vaccine to protect infants against rotavirus, which causes severe intestinal infections.

§    A second childhood dose of varicella vaccine to enhance protection against chickenpox.

§     A new combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine means children will get only one needle rather than two.

§     A lifetime dose of pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine for adults age 19 to 64, who often pass this highly-contagious disease to infants and children. 

As part of the National Immunization Strategy, the Federal Government committed funding to support new vaccine programs in Ontario, including varicella, meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines.  Federal funding for these programs was cancelled however in 2006. Since then, Ontario has stepped up to cover the costs of these vaccines to ensure kids and families are protected. 

"The improvements we’ve made will mean better protection and peace of mind for Ontario families", says Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, "but there is no doubt we could do even more with support from the federal government.” 

Two new vaccines will begin rolling out August 1st and will be available province-wide by August 8th.  Local health care providers, such as family doctors, nurse practitioners and public health nurses will be able to provide the vaccines.

The immunization program offers 14 different vaccines that will prevent against 17 preventable diseases with an anticipated 140,000 infants benefitting annually from the rotavirus vaccine alone.