Vaccines, Health and Safety Requirements
All students are required to be vaccinated for tetanus/diphtheria and rabies. These are recognized occupational hazards in the field of veterinary care. The mandatory vaccines and Pre-Placement Health Form below are to be completed by the time you arrive to College. Students who do not provide proof of current vaccinations will not be permitted to attend scheduled on site and off site live animal clinical labs and risk course delay and potential failure. Please start this vaccination process early (January/February) as the rabies series and post vaccine titer can take up to 12 weeks to complete.
Vaccination and ParaMed Information:
Pre-Exposure Rabies Vaccination Series and Blood Titre:
Several options are available to obtain this vaccination series:
Start making plans to obtain your rabies vaccines upon acceptance to the program. You will need to complete a series of three vaccines over 3 weeks (Day 0, Day 7 and Day 21), followed by a blood test one month following the final vaccine, to ensure you are sufficiently protected (this is called a titer).
This process takes a minimum of 8 weeks, so you need to get started soon to ensure you have this process completed prior to the start of classes.
You can choose to obtain the vaccine series from your personal health care provider. Keep in mind, it may take some time for them to order the vaccine for you.
You can book an appointment with Ontario Travel Well travel clinic, located on Merivale Rd. in Nepean:
• Go to: https://www.ontariotravelwell.ca/
You can also book with Ottawa West Travel medicine clinic, located on Eagleson Rd in Kanata:
Go to: https://www.ottawatravelmedicine.com/en
- Make an appointment for an initial consultation with a nurse – there will be a fee (have a payment method ready). Initial consultations may be in person or virtual
- Schedule your 3 vaccine appointments
- Obtain your blood titer
- Submit your proof of rabies and tetanus vaccines, blood titer and health forms to ParaMed
~ Vaccine cost will be between $250 – $400 per dose depending on vaccine availability ~
Blood titer paper work will be provided upon receipt of the final/third dose from the clinic. Alternatively, a rabies titer can be obtained free of charge through any Health Care Provider or Algonquin College Health Services (by appointment only).
You will also need to provide proof of a tetanus vaccine within the past 10 years. Keep all of your vaccination documentation together in a safe place so you can submit it to ParaMed during the first week of classes.
Health and Safety Certification
All students are required to take two online student health and safety training courses and provide completion certificates to ParaMed along with their medical documents prior to the end of their first semester.
Ontario Health & Safety Awareness Training (OHSA)
Among other topics, this teaches participants the roles and responsibilities of workplace parties, duties and rights of workers and supervisors and general workplace hazards.
Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) Training
This course teaches participants about the WHMIS regulations and how to identify and work safely with controlled products and chemical hazards in the workplace.
Students obtain access to complete these courses at the start of the semester. Register for free by using your student ID number at: https://www.yowcanada.com/algonquin/students/