Vaccines that protect against the following diseases are available free of charge, and are required for attendance at school:

• Diphtheria is a very serious bacterial infection. It can cause breathing problems, heart failure, nerve damage and death in about 10% of cases.
• Tetanus (Lockjaw) causes painful muscle spasms, breathing failure and can lead to death. It is caused by bacteria and spores in the soil that can infect wounds.
• Polio can cause paralysis (loss of control over muscles in the body), inflammation of the brain and death. People get polio from drinking water or eating food with the polio virus in it. It is no longer common in Canada because of high immunization rates, but cases do occur elsewhere in the world and polio may be acquired when traveling if you are not fully immunized.
• Measles causes rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes. It can cause middle ear infection, pneumonia (lung infection), inflammation of the brain, hearing loss, brain damage and death.
• Mumps causes fever, headache, painful swelling of the glands in the mouth and neck, earache and can cause inflammation of the brain. It can cause temporary or permanent deafness and swelling of the ovaries in women and testes in men, possibly leading to sterility.
• Rubella (German Measles) causes fever, rash, swelling of the neck glands and swelling and pain in the joints. It can cause bruising and bleeding. If a pregnant woman gets rubella, it can be very dangerous for the unborn baby.

Vaccines against the following diseases are recommended but not required for attendance at school.

• Pertussis (Whooping Cough) causes severe coughing spells for weeks or months. It can also cause pneumonia (lung infection), middle ear infection, convulsions (seizures), inflammation of the brain and death. The risk of complications is greatest in children younger than one year of age.
• Hepatitis B is a virus that can cause serious liver problems that can be fatal, such as liver failure and liver cancer. The vaccine is free for grade 7 students and certain high-risk groups (including infants born to mothers who are infected with hepatitis B and can pass the disease on to their babies).
• Influenza is a viral infection that causes cough, high fever, chills, headache and muscle pain. It can cause pneumonia (infection of the lungs), middle ear infections, heart failure and death. The danger of this infection varies from year to year depending on the strain and can be mild to life-threatening. Any one six months of age and older who lives, works or attends school in Ontario can get the vaccine each year free of charge.
• Varicella (Chicken pox) is a highly contagious viral infection. It can cause fever, headache, chills, muscle or joint aches a day or two before the itchy, red rash appears. A pregnant woman with chicken pox can pass it on to her unborn baby. Mothers with chicken pox can also give it to their newborn baby after birth. Chicken pox can be very severe or even life-threatening to newborn babies.
• Meningoccal disease-group C is a very serious bacterial infection and a common cause of meningitis (infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord) and meningococcaemia (severe infection of the blood) that can cause severe complications and death.
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common virus transmitted through sexual activity. HPV has been found to cause cervical cancer, some other rare cancers and genital warts. (About 75 per cent of adults will have at least one HPV infection in their lifetime.) The vaccine is free for grade 8 females.

Vaccines against the following diseases are recommended for younger children. These vaccines are available free of charge:

• Haemophilus Influenzae B (HIB) is a bacteria that can infect any part of the body. It can cause middle ear infections, breathing problems, damage to joints, pneumonia (lung infection), inflammation of the brain leading to brain damage and death. This vaccine recommended for children less than 5 years of age.
• Pneumococcal disease is a bacterial infection that can cause serious illnesses such as pneumonia, blood infection and meningitis. The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is now available free of charge in Ontario for the routine immunization of children less than 2 years old as well as high-risk children 2 to 59 months of age.