The Public Health Agency of Canada says the country has officially lost its measles elimination status, which it had held since 1998.
The federal agency says the Pan American Health Organization revoked the status after confirming there has been ongoing transmission of the same strain of measles for more than one year.
The outbreak began in New Brunswick in October 2024 and spread to more than 5,000 people in Canada, including two infants in Ontario and Alberta who were infected with measles in the womb and died after they were born.
Ontario, which was deemed the country’s hot spot for months, declared an end to its outbreak in October after more than 2,000 cases.
Alberta’s outbreak of the same strain continues, with almost 2,000 people getting sick with the highly contagious disease so far. British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories have also had cases.
To get its elimination status back, Canada will need to stamp out the transmission of the current strain for at least 12 months.
“While transmission has slowed recently, the outbreak has persisted for over 12 months, primarily within under-vaccinated communities,” PHAC said in a statement Monday.
The federal agency says it’s working with PAHO and federal, provincial and territorial partners to boost vaccination coverage, strengthen data sharing, and improve surveillance and guidance.
PAHO, the World Health Organization’s regional office for countries in North and South America, made its decision after reviewing Canada’s recent epidemiological and laboratory data.
Two other PAHO countries — Venezuela and Brazil — lost their measles elimination status in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Through sustained public health efforts, they both got it back after about five years, a spokesperson for PAHO said in an email.
Public health and infectious disease experts attribute the return of measles to declining vaccination rates, stemming from misinformation-fuelled vaccine hesitancy and distrust of authority, as well as the disruption of routine immunizations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Measles, one of the most contagious diseases in the world, requires 95 per cent vaccination coverage to obtain herd immunity.
With files from Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press
