Measles a rising concern in Canada, following near-zero years during pandemic – CTV
Sept. 5, 2024
During the pandemic, measles rates dropped to almost zero cases per year in Canada. What went up, according to one infectious disease expert, was vaccine hesitancy.
There were only 12 measles cases in Canada in 2023, but this year there have already been 81. Rising cases and dwindling vaccination rates are cause for concern, said Dr. Susy Hota, the division head of infectious diseases and medical director of infection prevention and control at University Health Network in Toronto.
“A trend that we’re noticing since the pandemic especially is that there’s been an increase in hesitancy to get vaccines that we normally gave out through childhood,” said Hota.
After widespread vaccination, measles was essentially eliminated in Canada by 1998, Hota told CTVNews.ca in an interview on Wednesday. Cases that do appear in Canada almost always originate from travel to another country — but as cases rise, that starts to change.
