Canada loses measles elimination status, causing entire region to lose designation

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This article was published 10/11/2025 (329 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – Canada has officially lost the measles elimination status it had held since 1998, causing the entire region of the Americas to also lose the designation.

The status is granted and revoked by the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization’s office for countries in North and South America. It said Monday Canada could no longer consider itself measles-free after confirming ongoing transmission of the same strain of measles for more than one year 

That means all of the Americas has lost the status as well, PAHO director Dr. Jarbas Barbosa said at a news conference.

“If only one country in our region loses the status, the region loses the status together with the country. But all the other 34 countries, they are still measles-free,” Barbosa said, distinguishing the regional status from that of individual countries. 

But the region only regained measles-free status last year after Venezuela and Brazil contained their outbreaks. Those countries lost elimination in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Venezuela recovered through a strong and continuous surveillance program that detected and contained cases before they sprawled, Dr. Daniel Salas, PAHO’s executive manager, Special Program for Comprehensive Immunization, said at the news conference. 

Salas also said Brazil identified exactly where there were unvaccinated children and targeted those pockets.

Similarly, Salas said Canada will need to focus on the tight-knit communities of unvaccinated people where measles has primarily spread. 

This year, several other neighbouring nations have been hit with outbreaks. 

PAHO said almost 12,600 measles cases have been reported across 10 countries in the region with Canada, Mexico and the United States accounting for approximately 95 per cent of them. 

That represents a 30-fold increase compared to 2024. 

Active outbreaks have also been ongoing in Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay, but Salas said he is hopeful the spread will be interrupted before those countries reach the 12-month mark of ongoing transmission.

Canada’s 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, the Public Health Agency of Canada said Monday.

“While transmission has slowed recently, the outbreak has persisted for over 12 months, primarily within under-vaccinated communities,” PHAC said. 

The federal agency said it’s working with PAHO and federal, provincial and territorial partners to boost vaccination coverage, strengthen data sharing, and improve surveillance and guidance. 

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.

Dr. Brian Ward, professor of infectious diseases microbiology at the McGill University Health Centre, said losing measles elimination status is “embarrassing.”

“We’re a wealthy country that, at least theoretically, believes in science-driven health care, evidence-driven care. I think we take considerable pride in the fact that we have a really strong health-care system,” Ward said.

Despite having a vaccine that “works and is remarkably safe, we haven’t figured out how to actually convince people that this is the right thing to do.”

Ward said reforming the primary-care system in Canada so that doctors and nurse practitioners have more time to spend with worried parents is an important step in re-establishing vaccine confidence.

“The parents of these small children, they’re not bad people. They’re trying to do the best they can for their children,” he said.

“To actually convince someone who is scared by what they hear (about vaccines) in a five or 10-minute interview, when you’ve actually got to deal with all of the other things, that’s not easy. I would say that’s impossible.”

Measles, one of the most contagious diseases in the world, requires 95 per cent vaccination coverage to obtain herd immunity.

Regional measles vaccination coverage of the second dose was well below that target in 2024, at an average of 79 per cent, according to PAHO. 

“The measles vaccine is the best way to protect Canadians and their family,” said Guillaume Bertrand, spokesperson for federal Minister of Health Marjorie Michel, in an emailed response on Monday.

“Minister Michel is following the situation closely, and working with PHAC, as well as her provincial and territorial counterparts, so Canada can re-establish its measles elimination status.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2025.

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