Open this photo in gallery:
Dr. Dawn Bowdish, associate professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., says Canada cannot afford to take its eye off the ball when it comes to measles.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
A string of measles deaths in the United States this week – two in states that haven’t reported deaths of this kind in more than three decades – is underscoring the divergent responses to the highly contagious virus in the U.S. and Canada and the resulting outcomes.
Both countries have faced widespread and deadly measles cases that have sickened thousands, fuelled by growing pockets of unvaccinated individuals, particularly in Mennonite communities. But Canada has managed to do what the U.S. hasn’t: Put an end to the outbreak.
Down south the situation is growing worse, with three deaths announced this week. On Thursday, health officials in Wisconsin reported an infant death, the first measles-related fatality in the state since 1990. It followed the deaths of a seven-month-old in New York – another first in 30 years – and a Pennsylvania resident.
Immunologist Dawn Bowdish, a professor of medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, said it will take time and greater analysis to compare the response of the two countries, but Canada’s strong commitment to public health and emphasis on vaccination likely set it on a different path.
“In Canada, that’s been a very clear part of our control in these outbreaks, whereas in the U.S. we hear every day more and more misinformation about measles coming from the highest officials of the land.”
Fault lines in small-town Alberta: A measles resurgence exposes divides over vaccines and faith
Dr. Bowdish said Canadian officials, regardless of their political stripe or the province they represent, have not questioned measles deaths or engaged in sustained vaccine misinformation efforts, unlike U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“People do make their decisions based on what they hear in the news and what they hear from public health officials,” she said. “There’s no doctor, public health official or chief medical officer who I can think of in Canada who’s ever criticized the value of vaccination in reducing the measles epidemic.”
Canada declared the years-long measles outbreak over in October, after more than two months without a new, linked case being reported. The outbreak began in October 2024 in New Brunswick before spreading across the country, infecting more than 6,400 people and killing two premature babies.
Cases in Canada greatly eclipsed the total count in the United States in 2025, even though the U.S. population is more than eight times larger.
The U.S. outbreak began in Texas that January and has resulted in around 7,000 confirmed cases, with the majority identified this year. The number of infections is likely much higher because of under-reporting. At least 10 deaths – a combination of children and adults – have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments.
Many U.S. public health officials have blamed Mr. Kennedy for worsening the crisis. He has led a significant overhaul of federal health agencies – constraining the government’s ability to track and manage cases – advanced vaccine skepticism and disputed measles-related deaths.
Open this photo in gallery:
A combination MMR vaccine is displayed at Pennsylvania Department of Health measles vaccination clinic located in Lancaster County in Peach Bottom, Pa. The state recently reported its sixth measles-linked death this year.Matt Rourke/The Associated Press
The measles outbreak emerged as a prominent issue ahead of the recent midterms, which saw the Democrats take control of the House and Senate in a stunning rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump. Roughly a dozen doctors and nurses, many of whom made their opposition to Mr. Kennedy’s agenda a feature of their campaign, flipped Republican-held congressional seats.
There is now buzz that Democrats will work to strengthen public health and address a range of health issues, such as the price of prescription drugs and vaccine policies. This shift could help clamp down on the spread of measles, a once forgotten disease.
Annie Andrews, who became the first pediatrician to be elected to the U.S. Senate after she defeated Republican Darline Graham in South Carolina on Tuesday, has vowed to hold her “arch nemesis” Mr. Kennedy accountable for public health damage, also blaming him for the measles surge in her home state last spring.
Swing voters, economic worries drive decisive blue wave in U.S. midterms
Cross-border travel and shared religious and cultural communities mean the U.S. and Canada are intrinsically connected when it comes to measles transmission. While Canada was stripped of its measles elimination status last year, it is working hard to earn it back. Continued spread in the U.S. and elsewhere, however, pose a risk to these efforts.
Joss Reimer, Chief Public Health Officer, said last month that Canada had reached an “encouraging milestone” by ending its outbreak. But she warned that measles continues to circulate globally and said to expect travel-related cases to pop-up here.
“Vaccination remains our best defence against measles, and keeping routine vaccinations up-to-date is essential to preventing future outbreaks and protecting our communities,” Dr. Reimer said in a statement.
Achieving blanket immunity against measles requires 95 per cent of the population to be fully immunized with two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine or have had a previous infection. Both the U.S. and Canada are shy of the 95 per cent national threshold and, in certain regions, have rates far below.
Dr. Bowdish stressed that Canada cannot take its eye off the ball, considering measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases.
“You can’t be lax with the rules we have in place. You can’t underfund public health and we have to work on trust,” she said. “You don’t get to relax with these sorts of things. You have to keep working on it, otherwise we’ll be in the same place again.”