Canada loses measles elimination status, with US on track to follow

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced Monday that Canada has lost measles elimination status, after failing to curb the outbreak of the virus for 12 straight months.

Because Canada is no longer considered measles-free, the Americas region as a whole has lost elimination status, although other countries individually are still considered to have eliminated the disease.

However, the United States also risks losing ground if it does not stop the ongoing outbreak by January. Related cases have now been reported in Utah, Arizona and South Carolina.

The outbreak began in Canada last October, and health officials attributed it to fewer people being vaccinated against measles.

At a news conference Monday, BAHO officials implored Canadian governments and the public to ramp up vaccinations, noting that 95% of the population needs to be immunized to stop the spread of measles.

“This loss represents a setback, but it is also reversible,” said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, WHO Director.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said in its own statement that it is collaborating with BAHO and provincial health authorities to improve vaccination rates and enhance data sharing.

Before Monday, Canada had been declared measles-free for three decades. It can regain elimination status if it can suppress the spread of the measles strain linked to the current outbreak for at least 12 months.

The country reported more than 5,000 measles cases in 2025, most of them in Ontario and Alberta. This is three times the 1,681 cases reported in the United States, even though Canada has a much smaller population.

Canadian health officials said the bulk of the outbreak was in “undervaccinated communities.”

Vaccination rates in Alberta, one of the provinces hit hardest by the outbreak, are below the 95% threshold, according to provincial data.

One region, the Southern Region, which includes Calgary, the province’s largest city, reported that only 68% of children under two were vaccinated against measles as of 2024.

The MMR vaccine is the most effective way to fight the dangerous virus, which can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and death. The vaccines have an effectiveness rate of 97%, and they also protect against mumps and rubella.

Canadian immunologist Dawn Budish told the BBC that there are many reasons behind the low vaccination rates, including a lack of access to general practitioners, the absence of a national vaccination registry that Canadians can use to check their immunization status, and the spread of misinformation.

She also pointed to a lack of public health education for communities who were hesitant or distrustful of vaccines.

“It highlights how many of our systems have failed to get us to this point,” said Professor Budish of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

“I hope this serves as a wake-up call to policymakers, and that it is enough of a national embarrassment that we address some of these systemic issues,” she added.

The Americas are the first and only region in the world to be declared measles-free, starting in 2016. This status was then briefly lifted after outbreaks in Venezuela and Brazil. Both countries regained elimination status in 2024, partly through coordinated vaccine efforts where millions have been immunized.

But measles has spread again since then, now in North America.

Along with Canada and the United States, Mexico has also seen a rise in cases, and is now among the top 10 countries with the largest outbreaks, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.