After 27 years, Canada has lost its measles elimination status. Today, the Pan American Health Association informed Health Canada that due to the spread of the measles virus across Canada for a period of more than one year, that status was lost. It can be regained only once transmission of the measles strain associated with the current outbreak is interrupted for at least 12 months.

Local public health officials remind all community members that the measles vaccine is safe and effective and the best way to protect themselves and their families. All children are eligible for their first dose of measles vaccine at 12 months of age, and their second dose at 4 years of age.

“In 1954, there was an outbreak of measles at a Massachusetts boarding school. Local physicians and bio-scientists came together to apply what was learned during the development of the polio vaccine, to measles. The care and concern for children drove the development of a vaccine that has since saved millions of lives worldwide,” says Dr. Joanne Kearon, Associate Medical Officer of Health with the Middlesex-London Heath Unit.

“It is my hope that we can return to that same sense of shared care and responsibility for the health and well-being of others and get our local vaccination rates up to the 95% required to prevent outbreaks like the one we experienced this year in Ontario. We must remain vigilant. A well immunized community is a stronger, more resilient community,” she adds.

The Middlesex-London Health Unit offers vaccinations to individuals under the age of 18 who do not have an Ontario health card, who have arrived in Canada within the past year and are without a health care provider, or who are at-risk of school suspension due to missing vaccines. Adults never immunized are encouraged to speak to their health care providers about how to get started with measles immunization.