Canada plays strong defence against disease at World Cup

As World Cup fans cheer at the quarterfinals, concerns remain about the health of Norway’s players, several of whom are recovering from what turned out to be mild illness. Other international players had expressed concern earlier about measles in the Americas.

The tournament has highlighted risks related to the volume and fluidity of global travel. From Norway’s elite, handsomely paid squad to the millions of fans congregating at Fan Fests across Canada and the Americas, the quadrennial tournament exposes our interconnected health vulnerabilities.

It’s health security that makes this vibrant bustle possible. As we embrace strangers and shower drinks on neighbours — my 12-year-old son, a Fan Fest regular, particularly appreciates this tradition — the Public Health Agency of Canada assesses passengers who appear sick to catch exposures to contagious diseases like measles and tuberculosis (TB).

As an American public health scientist working in Canada for the summer, I recently learned about significant preventive health investments, including monitoring for disease risks and major new infrastructure to protect residents from future threats.

AIRBORNE RISKS

Infectious diseases often spread through air travel. In 2010, two travellers from separate parts of the world brought measles with them to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The cases seeded a wave of community transmission in the province — meaning measles spread through local cases versus international exposures — with 82 cases reported in two months.

Fast forward to the 2026 World Cup. Canadian public health professionals have been monitoring anonymized electronic medical records, wastewater and public social media accounts for outbreak clues to head off widespread community transmission. Rapid communication to provincial residents about flight-related exposures, including via the news media, is a critical component of managing these ever-present risks.

As Australia and Turkey faced off at Vancouver’s B.C. Place stadium on June 13, measles was travelling on a plane from Toronto, triggering a half-dozen exposures at Ontario and Québec airports and clinics that these provinces quickly announced. Public health professionals have reported 28 measles cases since late June in Québec, in the province’s third measles outbreak since early 2024. Seven provinces have also reported cases in 2026.

While public health workers actively mitigated exposures through contact tracing, quarantining sick people, and clear and prompt public communication, the threat of continued community transmission remains a concern.

CANADA’S $2.5-BILLION GROUND GAME

Primary prevention averts disease before it ever occurs. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada has made significant investments to build domestic biomanufacturing, vaccine and therapeutics production, including partnerships with pharmaceutical companies.

Moderna’s mRNA vaccine production facility in Laval, Québec, opened in 2024 and focuses on RSV, flu and COVID-19 vaccines. Sanofi’s vaccine manufacturing facility in Toronto will produce vaccines against whooping cough (pertussis), diphtheria and tetanus in a facility the size equivalent of two-and-a-half FIFA soccer pitches. A second Sanofi facility is scheduled to begin producing flu vaccines in 2027.

In Edmonton, the Canadian Critical Drug Initiative will support a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing plant, which received $50 million in federal funding and aims to ensure a reliable drug and biodefence supply. Additional investments will enable institutions in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary to accelerate Canadian discovery in the life sciences.

These new production sites will help ensure prioritized access to critical vaccines and therapeutics for Canadians while expanding global supply. While this current wave of investment is rapid, it recalls Canadian innovations of the 19th and 20th centuries.

• Farm to front: During the First World War, an Ontario farm managed by Connaught Laboratories produced vaccines and immunological serums, protecting Canadian soldiers deployed to the Western Front against diseases like smallpox, tetanus and meningococcus (a cause of debilitating meningitis).

• Québec’s Pasteur: After losing his mother to tuberculosis (TB), Montréal scientist Dr. Armand Frappier dedicated his life to the discovery of public health solutions, including proving how the BCG (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) vaccine prevented TB, the first such trial in North America of the early 20th century.

• Bottle rocker: In 1952–53, Connaught Laboratories microbiologist Leone Farrell, PhD helped Jonas Salk mass-produce polio vaccine materials through “bottle-rocking machines.” Her bottle-rocker, which provided for 2.3 million polio vaccine doses to Canadians and was featured in a museum exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., provided hope during a time when polio infected thousands and killed hundreds each year.

CROWDS, TRAVEL AND RISK

In an era of conflict and sectarianism, the World Cup offers extraordinary international togetherness. My son and fans from across the globe clustered for hours in the searing sun, cheering home wins, mourning losses and celebrating victories of other nations after each fan’s own country exited the bracket.

As Canada closes out its inaugural role as co-host, it will have successfully welcomed over a million international visitors. Its public health vigilance has paid off with scant transmission of measles and other contagious illness around the tournament.

The Cup has highlighted Canada’s strong public health infrastructure, but the volume of international visitors arriving for the tournament is fairly similar to what the country handles during a typical midsummer travel peak.

In a typical July, about 1.4 million international non-residents arrive by air in Canada, alongside nearly two million vehicular crossings from the United States. So even after the teams and fans depart, travel-related infectious disease risks remain ever-present.

As the World Cup crowds disperse after a tournament that successfully averted disease transmission, it’s important that Canada remains prepared for whatever infectious disease threat may appear next.

» Rose Weeks is a senior research associate at Johns Hopkins University. This column was originally published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.