Alberta’s recent surge in measles cases is the result of vaccine disinformation and fear mongering, say medical researchers and healthcare professionals.
As of May 26, Alberta Health was reporting 606 cases in the current outbreak.
Over the past 10 weeks, there have been 473 cases, 44 of which required hospitalization.
The numbers show that measles spread quickly over that time period. In the second week of March, there were seven known new infections. In the week of May 11, health officials logged 121 new cases.
Nearly 90 percent of these cases involved non-immunized individuals.
“It’s hard for us to see, because measles was really on the verge of being eradicated,” said Dr. Jonathan Somerville, a Sundre doc who works with Greenwood Family Physicians and the Myron Thompson Health Centre. “Because of misinformation and distrust, the uptake of measles vaccination has gone down to the point where we’ve lost some of that herd immunity and now we’re starting to see outbreaks.”
Second in Canada
In Canada, Alberta is second only to Ontario in the number of confirmed measles infections. Since last fall when the outbreak started, Ontario has reported 1800 cases.
Also known as red measles or rubeola, measles symptoms include a fever above 38.3 C, runny nose, cough, red eyes and a splotchy rash that starts on the face and moves down the body.
It is highly contagious and easily transmitted in the air when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes.
Easily Preventable
It’s also easily preventable – Alberta Health Services offers a free vaccine.
Vaccination has prevented an estimated 60 million deaths between 2000 and 2023, according to the World Health Organization.
However people, especially children, still die from the disease. The WHO says measles remains a significant cause of death globally, “despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine.”
In 2023, nearly 110,000 people died from measles around the world.
How Disinformation Spread
A recent article in Scientific American called the movement against the measles vaccine a “shameful mass propaganda program” that will make “millions of kids needlessly sick with the measles.”
In 1998, British doctor Andrew Wakefield published a research paper in The Lancet claiming that the measles vaccine caused autism in children. The journal retracted the paper in 2010 after Wakefield’s conclusions and methods were debunked and it was learned lawyers representing parents suing vaccine makers funded his research.
Twelve years of vaccine disinformation did a lot of damage, however.
This past March, under President Trump’s administration, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) appointed vaccine conspiracy theorist David Geier in March to review all vaccine safety data.
Geier is a so-called data analyst who has previously been disciplined for practicing medicine without a license. He’s been tasked to continue research on whether vaccines are linked to autism.
The disinformation and the questions have had disastrous effects on people’s trust in vaccines.
Experts say a 95 percent vaccination rate is required to achieve herd immunity to measles. Alberta has been punching below this since at least 2015. In 2024, only 92 percent of Albertan children 17 and under were fully vaccinated against the measles.
In 2024, a study by Research Co. found that more than three in ten Canadians believe there is a link between the measles vaccine and autism.
Scientists agree there is no causal link between the two.
Dr. Richard Besser, a former acting CDC director, told NBC News that Geier is a “deeply irresponsible choice” given that he has “no medical degree and a long history of pushing discredited theories about vaccines and autism.”
Get Vaccinated, Alberta Urges
Alberta Health is urging unvaccinated people to get immunized and states that there is “no evidence that any vaccine, including the measles mumps rubella (MMR) vaccine, causes autism.”
Southern Alberta has been hardest hit with roughly 75 percent of measles cases so far reported in the province.
On May 23, Alberta Health issued a measles exposure advisory for the South Zone.
“All individuals living, working, or attending school in, or travelling to, the South Zone are advised to be aware of the significant current risk for measles disease, and ensure immunizations are up to date,” read the advisory.