Canada has lost its measles elimination status due to ongoing outbreaks and declining childhood vaccination rates, according to international health experts. The highly contagious virus is now spreading across North and South America.
The change in status follows more than a year of continuous transmission within Canada. So far this year, the country has reported 5,138 measles cases and two deaths. Both fatalities were infants who contracted the virus before birth and were delivered prematurely.
Measles elimination is considered a symbolic milestone indicating that a country has interrupted continuous local transmission of the disease, though isolated travel-related cases may still occur. According to the World Health Organization, while most people recover from measles, it remains one of the leading causes of death among young children globally and can lead to serious complications such as blindness or brain swelling.
Vaccination is considered the most effective way to prevent measles, with two doses providing 97% protection.
Jennifer Nuzzo, an infectious disease expert at Brown University, commented on Canada’s situation: “It’s a deeply disheartening development. It’s a deeply worrisome development. And, frankly, it’s an embarrassing development,” she said. “No country with the amount of resources of Canada — or other countries in North America even — should lose their measles elimination status.”
Canada had previously eliminated measles in 1998 following widespread vaccination efforts; the United States followed suit two years later. The Americas became the first region worldwide declared free of measles in 2016 after successful immunization campaigns. Between 2000 and 2023, officials estimate that vaccines prevented over six million deaths in the region.
However, vaccination rates have since dropped below the recommended threshold needed to halt outbreaks. Large-scale outbreaks in Venezuela and Brazil during 2018-2019 led to loss of regional elimination status before it was regained in 2024—a designation now lost again with Canada’s new outbreaks.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), an independent agency focusing on public health in the Americas, determined that sustained transmission for over a year warranted revoking Canada’s elimination status after reviewing outbreak data.
Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, director of PAHO, acknowledged challenges faced by countries: “As a region, we have eliminated measles twice,” he stated at a recent briefing. “We can do it a third time.”
Canadian health authorities say they are working alongside government bodies and community partners to boost vaccine coverage and improve information sharing.
Measles spreads easily—one infected person can transmit it to up to nine out of ten unprotected individuals they encounter closely. This year alone PAHO confirmed nearly 12,600 cases across ten countries—a thirty-fold increase from last year—with most cases reported in Canada, Mexico, and the United States; Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Belize also report active outbreaks.
Regional vaccination coverage rose slightly last year but remained at just 79%, well below levels needed for herd immunity.
In addition to Canada’s developments, concerns persist about potential loss of elimination status for other countries like the United States—which eliminated measles domestically in 2000—after recent significant outbreaks including hundreds affected across Texas and neighboring states earlier this year.
Current U.S. clusters include dozens infected in South Carolina as well as over 150 cases along Arizona-Utah border communities since August; officials are investigating whether these are linked with previous Texas cases as required by criteria for losing elimination status—continuous local spread for one full year must be demonstrated through surveillance data.
International health leaders urge improved case tracking by U.S authorities: “enhance case investigation protocols,” advised Dr. Daniel Salas from PAHO’s immunization program leadership team.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures this year marks America’s highest incidence rate for more than three decades—with only nine states remaining free from confirmed infections out of forty-four total outbreak clusters recorded so far nationwide (1,681 individual cases).
Meanwhile Chihuahua state in Mexico faces its own large-scale outbreak: local officials confirm over four thousand four hundred infections plus twenty-one deaths since last week alone; genetic analysis shows these strains match those circulating within both Canadian sites as well as prior Texas clusters—all predominantly impacting Mennonite Christian communities whose migrations span generations between these regions.
Officials note similar viral patterns among Mennonite populations throughout Belize Argentina Bolivia Brazil Paraguay—though churches themselves generally do not prohibit vaccinations historically lower uptake persists particularly among conservative groups wary toward government initiatives or influenced by anti-vaccine misinformation campaigns online rather than religious doctrine per se:
“It’s not a religious prohibition in most of these cases,” Nuzzo said.“It is just people being perhaps distrustful of authorities but also preyed upon by these anti-vaccine influencers who profit off fears that some people may have.”
