Canada loses its official 'measles-free' status - and the US will follow soon, as vaccination rates fall

[marmar]

Canada loses its official ‘measles-free’ status – and the US will follow soon, as vaccination rates fall
Published: November 10, 2025 10:00am EST

Kathryn H. Jacobsen
William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair, Professor of Health Studies, University of Richmond


(The Conversation) In the wake of a measles outbreak in Canada that has infected thousands of people over the past year, an international health agency revoked the country’s measles-free status on Nov. 10, 2025.

The Pan American Health Organization, which serves as the World Health Organization’s regional office for the Americas, made this announcement after the agency’s measles elimination commission met in Mexico City to review the latest public health data.

As a global health epidemiologist who studies the spread of infectious diseases, this change in status does not surprise me. Measles is highly contagious, and a drop in childhood vaccination rates in Canada and in other countries has left many children unprotected from the disease.

The resurgence of measles in Canada after decades with very low numbers of cases is not an isolated problem. The U.S. has also had large outbreaks of measles this year, and it will likely soon lose its measles-free designation as well. ..............(more)

https://theconversation.com/canada-loses-its-official-measles-free-status-and-the-us-will-follow-soon-as-vaccination-rates-fall-269090

[Blumancru]

1. I feel sad that children will suffer

But I am mostly numb to the idiocy now. Everyone in my family is vaxxed against measles. That vaccine has been given for decades and is quite safe.
I suppose the right people will be vaxxed and the right people won’t. I guess the point will have been made when we have another needless and pointless epidemic and there are substantial numbers of Helen Kellers as a result.