Support for mandatory childhood vaccination increases, as measles outbreaks continue
As measles cases continue to rise in Ontario and Alberta, there are signs that support for mandatory childhood vaccination is rebounding, although hesitancy among parents is also rising.
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A new poll of almost 1,700 Canadians suggests support for mandatory childhood immunization has resurged across Canada, with nearly 70 per cent saying they should be mandatory. That is already the case in Ontario, with exemptions for medical and philosophical reasons, but not in all provinces. That number is up from 55 per cent a year ago.
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The apparently strengthening support for mandatory childhood immunization could reflect the historic measles outbreaks this year — the largest since the highly infectious disease was considered eliminated in Canada in 1998. Canada now risks losing its elimination status.
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But the Angus Reid poll also suggests vaccine hesitancy and opposition to childhood vaccination is on the rise among parents of children under 18 — from 16 per cent a decade ago to 22 per cent in the latest poll. The poll also found that a higher rate of people who voted Conservative in the April election feel that 'measles isn't as bad as people think it is'.
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The findings suggest that closing vaccination gaps to ensure herd immunity (about 95 per cent for measles) will be a complex task. There will likely continue to be geographic pockets where vaccination rates are low, in addition to a continuing gap among people who missed doses or for whom access to primary care is difficult.
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On Thursday, Public Health Ontario reported that the measles outbreak in the province had grown by 93 cases in the past week, bringing the total since last fall to 1,888 cases. There have also been 87 cases in Ontario since the beginning of the year that were not linked to the outbreak. As of May 17, there had been 509 measles cases in Alberta this year, with fewer than 100 in other provinces, totalling more than 2,500 cases across the country since the start of 2025.
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In the large Ontario outbreak, the majority of cases have been among infants, children and youth who were unvaccinated. Most cases have been centred in southwestern Ontario, but the outbreak has spread across much of the province, including Eastern Ontario. Ottawa Public Health reported two travel-related measles cases earlier, but has not reported any cases directly related to the outbreak.
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