Canada Loses Measles Elimination Status, Putting U.S. On Notice
Canadian health officials announced Monday that the country has lost its measles elimination status due to an outbreak of the infectious disease that has continued for more than a year, and the United States may not be far behind.
Officials said notification received The Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO, an arm of the World Health Organization, said about the designation after confirmation of sustained spread of the same strain of measles in Canada for more than 12 months – one of the main metrics used to determine a country’s elimination status.
This change brings a nearly 30-year public health triumph to a screeching halt. Canada first achieved qualifying status in 1998; this meant that the country had not had sustained domestic transmission of measles infection for one or more years. The United States followed in 2000.
Canada saw this in just the first 10 months of the year: about 5,000 cases Measles cases in 10 regions. That compared with nearly 1,700 cases from an outbreak across the U.S., which is about eight times Canada’s population.
Canadian officials stated that there were 23 new cases in the last week of October alone.
The outbreak resulted in two deaths, both premature newborns who were infected while in the womb.
“Although transmission has slowed recently, the epidemic has persisted for more than 12 months, particularly in unvaccinated communities,” the Public Health Agency of Canada said.
The current outbreaks in both Canada and the United States began in Mennonite communities, both of which were severely undervaccinated.
Canadian officials urged people to receive the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine in their announcement Monday.
“The measles vaccine is the best way to protect you and your family,” the institution said. “By staying vigilant and working together to increase measles vaccine coverage, we can prevent outbreaks and keep our communities safe from this preventable disease.”
Canada will not be able to seek qualifying status again until the country has gone a full year without suffering from the spread of the current pandemic.
Experts have been warning for months that the United States could be on its way to losing its measles-fighting status as well. PAHO is expected to make this decision if cases linked to the outbreak in Texas in January continue until the end of 2025.
Such a status change, reflecting the spread of a deadly disease that carries long-term side effects such as permanent brain damage and hearing and vision loss, could make it even more difficult for Americans to travel.
“This could impact the ability of U.S. citizens to travel to certain countries if they don’t want to risk measles being introduced into their country,” Brittany Kmush, associate professor and graduate director of the Department of Public Health at Syracuse University, told HuffPost in July. “This may affect other people’s ability to visit the United States. Other countries may require proof of measles vaccination before returning to their home countries.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., long singled out by President Donald Trump as an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, has repeatedly spread misinformation about MMR vaccines, claiming earlier this year that people who get sick from the measles virus may lack “good nutrition” and a “good exercise regimen.” He has also repeatedly touted unverified treatments for measles and claimed that people with natural immunity to the virus could be protected from cancer and heart disease.
In June, researchers found that the MMR vaccination rate among American children had fallen by around 3% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in line with a rise in anti-vaccine misinformation. This shift follows a decade of more stable MMR vaccination rates, the study’s authors told HuffPost.
