Canada has lost its measles elimination status
Confirmed measles cases in Toronto have doubled since 2019
After nearly three decades, Canada no longer holds measles elimination status, according to a statement issued by the Public Health Agency of Canada today.
Per the statement, in October of 2024, a multi-jurisdictional outbreak of measles began, with cases confirmed in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.
After monitoring the situation, the Pan American Health Organization, which is the specialized international health agency for the Americas, informed Canada’s Public Health Agency that sustained transmission of the same measles virus strain had been active in the country for more than a year. This means Canada no longer reaches the threshold required to retain elimination status.
In a CBC segment, Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at the Toronto General Hospital, said mis- and disinformation were factors in the outbreak, which is partly due to pockets around the country with low vaccination rates. “This is the most transmissible virus we know of. It’s going to ultimately find non-immune individuals, and that’s exactly what happened,” he said.
In 2024, Toronto confirmed ten cases of measles. The city’s five-year average was previously five cases per year. As for all of Ontario, the province’s measles outbreak was declared over early last month.
If transmission of the current measles strain is interrupted for at least 12 months, Canada can re-establish its elimination status.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
