OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada has lost its measles elimination status after nearly three decades due to its failure to curb a year-long outbreak, the country’s public health agency said on Monday.
Health experts last month predicted the Pan American Health Organization would strip Canada of the status. The country has recorded more than 5,000 measles cases in nine of its 10 provinces and one northern territory.
“While transmission has slowed recently, the outbreak has persisted for over 12 months, primarily within under-vaccinated communities,” the agency said in a statement.
“The PAHO has notified the Public Health Agency of Canada that Canada no longer holds measles elimination status,” it added, saying the agency would focus on improving vaccination coverage, strengthening data sharing, and enabling better overall surveillance efforts.
Health experts say slipping vaccination rates in parts of the country are a harbinger of more vaccine-preventable illnesses resurgent in a population increasingly skeptical and mistrustful of vaccines since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The office of federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel declined to comment.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, Editing by Nick Zieminski and Paul Simao)
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