Time for our leaders to lead on measles

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/05/2025 (322 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“We need real leadership and a serious plan to protect people, with a robust public education campaign on the effective and free MMR vaccine.”

— Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles

 

Manitoba has identified 20 confirmed and four probable cases of measles so far this year. Alberta has had almost 300 cases so far, and Ontario announced yesterday that there have been almost 1,400 cases since last October.

The outbreak has also spread to British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan — in other words, to almost every province in the country. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the people infected with the illness are under 18 years of age and have not been vaccinated for measles.

Measles is a highly infectious communicable disease that is spread through droplets in the air that are formed when coughing or sneezing. Symptoms of the illness generally appear seven to 21 days following exposure. Initial symptoms may include a fever, runny nose, drowsiness, irritability and red eyes. Small white spots may also develop on the inside of the mouth or throat.

Several days after the initial symptoms, a red blotchy rash appears on the face and progresses down the body. Measles can lead to complications including ear infections, diarrhea, pneumonia (lung infection) and encephalitis (brain inflammation).

If that doesn’t sound serious — if you think measles are just another childhood illness we all experience and recover from — you’re wrong. Dr. Mark Joffe, Alberta’s former chief medical officer, recently wrote in the Calgary Herald that “Measles is a horrid illness. The measles virus is uniquely diabolical … much more severe than most childhood infections. While most people recover, some don’t.” The disease tends to be more severe in infants and young children and can be life-threatening.

A person infected with measles can spread the virus from four days before the rash appears until four days after, which means they can be infecting others without even knowing they are ill.

Given the terrifying threat posed by measles to our children, our health-care professionals and our health-care system in general, what should governments and individual citizens be doing to reduce the danger?

Yesterday’s “measles update” from the Manitoba government could not be clearer. It says that “Immunization is the only means of protecting people from contracting measles.”

It’s pretty simple: Get immunized if you haven’t already done so, and ensure that your children are also immunized. Or, as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on the X social media website on Tuesday, “Don’t get measles. Get immunized.”

That’s good advice, but the problem is that too few leaders were saying it loudly enough in the early stages of the outbreak, and too many citizens are still failing to take the danger posed by measles seriously.

The Mayo Clinic website says that at least 95 per cent of a population must be vaccinated against the measles in order to prevent the spread of the illness within that population. Or, to quote Health Canada, “at least 95 per cent of the population needs to be immunized for herd immunity.“

That is the goal, but very few areas of Canada have achieved that level of immunization. In fact, the percentage of Canada’s population that has been immunized for measles has steadily declined over the past several years. As a consequence, far more Canadians — our children in particular — are far more vulnerable to the illness now than was the case a decade ago.

That reality can be attributed to two factors: Increased skepticism among Canadians about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and, secondly, the failure of governments to do more to rebut that skepticism and encourage vaccination.

That brings us to the statement by Marit Stiles, set out above. She is correct to point out that governments must be doing far more to protect citizens from measles and, in particular, to do a much better job of spreading the word about the safety and effectiveness of the measles vaccine.

Smith only encouraged immunization after hundreds of Alberta’s children had already been infected. Ontario Premier Doug Ford only spoke out in favour of immunization after more than 1,000 children in his province were infected. Other premiers and health ministers have remained largely silent despite the growing measles threat in their respective provinces.

That’s not nearly good enough.

It’s time for the nation’s leaders to lead. It’s time for our premiers and health ministers to tell their respective province’s citizens that the measles vaccine is safe and effective, and to give their full-throated support in favour of immunization.