Canada no longer measles-free as outbreaks spread | Canada
Canada is no longer measles-free due to ongoing outbreaks, international health experts said Monday, as childhood vaccination rates decline and the highly contagious virus spreads across North and South America.
The country’s loss of measles elimination status comes more than a year after the highly contagious virus began spreading.
Canada has recorded 5,138 cases of measles this year and two deaths. Both were babies exposed to the measles virus in the womb and born prematurely.
Measles elimination is a symbolic designation, but it represents a hard-won battle against this infectious disease. It is won when a country shows it has stopped the continued spread of the virus within local communities, although occasional cases may still appear during travel.
Measles usually begins with a high fever followed by a telltale rash that begins on the face and neck. Most people recover, but it is a leading cause of death among young children, according to the World Health Organization. Serious complications, including blindness and brain swelling, are more common in young children and adults over 30.
It is prevented by a vaccine administered regularly and safely to children around the world.
“It’s a deeply disheartening development. It’s a deeply worrying development. And, frankly, it’s an embarrassing development,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an infectious disease expert at Brown University. “No country with as many resources as Canada – or even other countries in North America – should lose its measles elimination status. »
Canada eliminated measles in 1998, followed by the United States two years later. After extremely successful vaccination campaigns, the Americas became the first region in the world to be measles-free in 2016. Health authorities estimate that the measles vaccine prevented 6.2 million deaths in the Americas between 2000 and 2023.
But vaccination rates have since fallen below the 95% coverage rate needed to stop outbreaks. Large outbreaks in Venezuela and Brazil in 2018 and 2019 cost the region its elimination status. It was recovered in 2024, but again ends in the loss of Canada.
Experts from the Pan American Health Organization, an independent health agency, made the decision after analyzing data on outbreaks in Canada that showed the virus had been spreading continuously for a year.
It has never been easy to prevent measles from circulating in local communities, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization, said at a press briefing Monday.
“As a region, we have eliminated measles twice,” Barbosa said. “We can do it a third time.”
In a statement, Canadian health officials said they were working with government and community partners to improve vaccination coverage, share data and provide evidence-based advice.
