REGINA - Measles has made its way to Saskatchewan.
Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, the Chief Medical Health Officer for the Ministry of Health, Dr. Saqib Shahab, confirmed that Saskatchewan is “part of the unprecedented North American measles outbreak.”
Shahab said that from March 14 to yesterday “a total of 27 measles cases have been reported in Saskatchewan, including 15 just the last week. So, you can see our case numbers are rising rapidly now. The age range is as low as five months.”
The vast majority of cases — up to 78 per cent — are among children and school age adults and almost all cases, except one, are unvaccinated. Shahab also said two hospitalizations have been reported.
Shahav said the outbreak is impacting unvaccinated people and is mostly 小蓝视频 transmitted through household contacts and exposure to cases in specific communities who are unvaccinated in Alberta, Ontario, Mexico and the U.S. and now increasingly within Saskatchewan.
Shahab said persons born before 1970 are generally considered immune; those born after 1970 need two doses of a measles-containing vaccine.
Currently, children under 12 months are not vaccinated and children under six months cannot get the vaccine.
Shahab noted there has been “exposure to infants who are at higher risk and cannot be vaccinated because families and communities around them are unvaccinated.” While most of the cases are in the central, rural, south areas, Dr. Shahab said “that will continue to change. We will likely see cases throughout Saskatchewan.”
Shahab did acknowledge that “the reason we are seeing, at present, a lower number of cases is that the vast majority of Saskatchewan residents, more than 90 per cent, have done the right thing and have themselves been vaccinated in the past and have had their children vaccinated prior to starting school.”
He noted that 91 per cent of children are fully vaccinated, with two doses of measles-containing vaccine when they start school, but he notes there is a delay, as children do not get their first dose until 12 months and the second at 18 months.
Shahab said that persons who are fully vaccinated are very unlikely to get measles, but those under the age of 12 months can be exposed. As well, so can those who are vaccinated in the past but are immune-compromised.
Shahab is urging people to protect themselves and be vaccinated and he addressed what he calls the five Cs of vaccine hesitancy: confidence, complacency, constraints to access the vaccine, risk calculation that it might be a mild illness, and collective responsibility.
On confidence, Shahab said the vaccine is safe and effective and gives long lasting protection. “The measles-containing vaccine has been used for five decades now.”
On complacency — that you will be protected because others are vaccinated — that is no longer the case, Shahab said. “We now are seeing transmission in many provinces, including Saskatchewan.”
Constraints to access the vaccine is “not the case in Saskatchewan,” he said, saying the Saskatchewan Health Authority is making extra efforts to make vaccine available throughout Saskatchewan, including rural and remote areas.
For those taking a "risk calculation" that measles may just be a mild illness, Shahab said it is “a pretty miserable illness for most people who get it. It's a week of fever and rash and you have to stay home for up to eight days if you're symptomatic, at least four days after the rash appears. Unvaccinated contacts have to stay home for day five to day 21 of exposure.”
His final comment was on collective responsibility, and how everyone has a role to keep their communities and schools and daycares safe and to protect those at high risk to illness.
“We should not be seeing measles in 2025. That we are seeing some outbreaks in specific communities as if it was the 1950s means that the social contract of keeping each other safe and protected is broken. For those who choose to keep themselves and their children unvaccinated, it means now that the outbreak in Saskatchewan will likely continue for weeks to months as we have seen in other provinces and other countries.”
Just today, Saskatchewan Health Authority has reported measles cases at four locations in Regina. As for numbers of cases, Dr. Shahab told reporters we are “now entering a phase of what will likely be ongoing cases every day.”
As for how this outbreak hit Saskatchewan, Dr. Shahab said that last week there were 12 cases, all of which were “directly linked to travel to other parts of the world.”
“People had travelled to Mexico, to areas in Mexico, within specific communities where there were cases, areas not in all of the U.S., but specific communities in the U.S. where there were measles cases, specific contacts with communities in Ontario and Alberta where there were measles cases,” Shahab said.
“So that meant that, you know, it was more than what we expect to see, because every year we see up to one or two cases that are linked to international travel, usually to more exotic places, because many parts of the world don't have the privileges we have of easy access to vaccines. And we would get the occasional travel case, and because everyone around that case was vaccinated, in school, daycare, we would have no further transmission. But now we're entering a phase where we're not just seeing travel cases, but cases in individuals who have not travelled anywhere.”
Because measles is so contagious, a single case can impact up to 20 unvaccinated people, Shahab said. He also noted that the current outbreak started from a single wedding in New Brunswick.
“And so, you know, this will continue as long as people remain unvaccinated.”
For those who are feeling unwell, Shahab urges them to call HealthLine 811 and to seek care.
“The last thing you want to see is a child or anyone dying from measles,” said Shahab. “There's no stigma in getting measles, but we still have time to make sure that if we're all vaccinated, we can end this outbreak earlier.”
For those who are unvaccinated and who wish to get themselves or other family members vaccinated, Shahab urges them to “look up your local public health office, make an appointment. Public health is waiting, literally waiting for families to come up. Public health teams have gone out, talked to communities, encouraged people to come and get the vaccine on time.”
For those who are fully vaccinated but who are immune compromised, Shahab urges them to talk to their healthcare provider as they may be recommended to take additional precautions that may include wearing a mask in crowded spaces, including in parts of the province where there is a high measles transmission.
