Health experts unsure ‘leadership exists’ for Canada to regain measles elimination status – CTV

November 11, 2025

For doctors who worked for years in the ‘90s to help Canada achieve measles elimination status, Monday was difficult.

“The dominant emotion I have is sadness, and then a little bit of anger,” said Dr. James Talbot, former chief medical officer of health in Alberta. “So many people worked so hard over many years to get that status, and to see it squandered … is hard to take.”

The Pan American Health Organization announced Monday it would strip Canada of its elimination status after a year in which the country has recorded more than 5,000 cases. Measles is a highly contagious virus, but also highly preventable, with two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

“Losing elimination is the canary in the coal mine,” said Talbot, who warns the inability to get outbreaks under control is evidence of larger problems.

“This is a disease we know what we need to do to bring it back under control,” he said. “We just need the political leadership and resources to make that happen, and — I am not sure, at least in a couple of provinces — that that leadership exists.”

Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/this-was-predictable-what-will-it-take-for-canada-to-get-back-its-measles-elimination-status/