‘Hesitancy’ to vaccinate in parts of Canada
Federal government health officials say that more than 95 per cent of Canada’s population is immunized, but a 2013 UNICEF report estimates an 84 per cent immunization rate, ranking Canada 28th among 29 industrialized countries.
The discrepancy is due to the fact that Canada does not have a national vaccine registry, and most provinces do not gather data on vaccine delivery. Vaccination rates are estimated through household telephone surveys, the latest of which was conducted in 2011 by Statistics Canada.
A recent resurgence of measles outbreaks in the developed world has health officials realizing that a growing number of families are opting out of regular inoculation schedules, threatening herd immunity — the level at which there are enough people immunized to protect everyone.
Those who do not vaccinate are a diverse group. Some ask for exemptions for their children for religious or philosophical reasons; some oppose immunization based on a retracted study that erroneously linked the MMR vaccine to autism; many choose to delay their children’s vaccine schedule because they don’t want Big Pharma or the government telling what to do; while others cite adverse reactions linked to immunizations and lawsuits against vaccine-makers.
Canadian health officials recognize that pockets of “vaccine hesitancy” exist throughout the country.
Only Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick have legislation that mandates children be vaccinated in order to attend school. Quebec does not have mandatory vaccination but has committed to establishing a provincial vaccine registry by 2016.
The current measles outbreak in Quebec’s Lanaudière region has soared to more than 100 cases, all linked to a recent outbreak in the United States traced to Disneyland in California. The Lanaudière infections started with one family that opted out of vaccination.
Canadians have forgotten a time before the vaccine era when childhood diseases resulted in horrific consequences, said Dr. Horacio Arruda, director of public health in the provincial Health Ministry.
Following a major measles outbreak in 2011 in Quebec’s Mauricie region, where nearly 700 people got sick and about 60 suffered serious consequences such as brain inflammation, pneumonia and deafness, the provincial government launched a prevention campaign.
Opération rougeole went to every school in the province between November 2011 and June 2012 to raise awareness and update vaccinations. By the fall of 2013, the ministry reported that although 11 per cent of children in Quebec still had no official vaccination records, only 2.2 per cent of children in schools across the province had not been vaccinated.
Despite Ontario having a mandatory A recent resurgence of measles outbreaks in the developed world has health officials realizing that a growing number of families are opting out of regular inoculation schedules.
vaccination policy, at least one downtown Toronto school had a 43.75 per cent rate of inoculation — the lowest in the city, according to a Global News investigation based on 2012 Toronto Public Health data.
A recent Toronto Star interactive map shows coverage and exemptions in high schools and elementary schools for the two most recent available years.
There were significant outbreaks of measles in five Canadian provinces last year. The biggest was in BritishColumbia,wheremorethan400 people came down with measles in a religious community whose pastor says infections should be left in God’s hands. No one died.
Measles is one of the most contagious of infectious diseases and remains one of the leading causes of death among children globally. The
virus is airborne, and minuscule droplets stay in the air for about two hours after the infected person leaves the room.
Infections come with a high fever, flu symptoms and telltale red rash. Complications can include pneumonia, deafness and death in about one or two cases per 1,000 infected children and adults.