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Canada loses measles elimination status amid year-long outbreak: Health officials - ABC News
The country has seen continuous measles transmission for more than 12 months.
Canada has lost its measles elimination status after struggling to contain a year-long outbreak, the country's public health agency announced on Monday.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said it was informed of the loss by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) after more than 12 months of continuous measles transmission. Canada's outbreak began in late October 2024 with more than 5,100 measles cases recorded, data from the health agency shows.
Cases have been confirmed in most of Canada's 10 provinces as well as the northwest territories.
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Canada is able to re-establish its measles elimination status if measles transmission related to the current outbreak is "interrupted" for at least 12 months, according to health officials.
The country will present and implement an action plan under PAHO's regional framework to increase immunization coverage, reinforce surveillance systems and ensure rapid outbreak response to stop spread.
"This is a very unfortunate event," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News. "It certainly is an embarrassment, and it is a ringing alert that we've got to do better to persuade parents, make them comfortable, assure them that vaccinating their children against measles is very important to those children and to the communities in which they live."
Measles was declared eliminated from Canada in 1998, two years before the U.S., meaning this is the first time Canada has lost its status in nearly three decades.
Health ministers across Canada were briefed last month on the country's measles outbreak and discussed response efforts, including trust through community engagement, according to PHAC.
In a press conference on Monday, Dr. Jorge Barbosa, director of PAHO, said barriers to accessing measles vaccines need to be improved, including making sure health centers are opened on weekends and are stocked with vaccines.
The U.S. could be next to lose measles elimination status after seeing continuous measles transmission since January.
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So far this year, more than 1,600 cases have been reported in 41 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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An outbreak in Texas played a large role in the spread of measles in the U.S., infecting more than 700 people and leading to the deaths of two unvaccinated school-aged children. Cases are notably currently spreading in Arizona, Utah and South Carolina.
"We have been flirting with the elimination of measles status because there are pockets of parents across the country that are withholding their children from measles vaccination for reasons that escape me. This vaccine is extraordinarily safe and extraordinarily effective, and measles is definitely not an illness you would want your child to have, and you certainly don't want it your child to spread it to other," Schaffner said.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, the CDC says. However, data show that vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years.
When asked which countries were on the verge of losing measles elimination status and at-risk of a measles endemic, Barbosa declined to specify.
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Canada's measles elimination also means the Americas as a region has lost it verification status as free from measles transmission, according to PAHO.
This is not the first time this has happened. A 2017 measles outbreak in Venezuela caused the country and the Americas to lose elimination status in 2018, which was followed by an outbreak in Brazil that led to a loss in status in 2019.
However, both countries showed by 2024 that they had controlled endemic spread of the virus, allowing the Americas to regain its verification status.
"As a region, we have eliminated measles twice; we can do it a third time," Barbosa said during the press conference.
ABC News' Dr. Meredith Montgomery contributed to this report.
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