'It's the perfect storm': Doctors urge measles vaccinations as Alberta case counts rise

As concerns about measles grow, and case counts tick up, health-care workers are preparing for a surge and pleading with Albertans to ensure they're fully vaccinated.

According to Alberta Health there were 13 confirmed cases in the province as of midday Tuesday, including two in the Calgary zone, three in the Edmonton zone and eight in the north zone.

That's an increase of two cases (one each in the Calgary and Edmonton zones) since Monday, when the province reported one person was hospitalized with the highly contagious virus.

While the province has yet to provide age ranges for the latest cases, as of Monday, the youngest Albertan confirmed with measles at this time is a baby under one year of age, and the oldest is an adult between the ages of 35 and 54. 

According to Alberta Health, the age breakdown, as of Monday, was as follows:

• Under one: 1 case
• Ages 1-4: 3 cases
• Ages 5 -9: 4 cases
• Ages 10-14: 2 cases
• Ages 35-54: 1 case

"I think we're just at the tip of the iceberg," said Dr. Sidd Thakore, a pediatrician at the Alberta Children's Hospital, who expects Alberta will see more cases in the next couple weeks.

"It's the perfect storm of a very contagious virus — that can last in the air or on surfaces — and with people that are not as vaccinated [as] before. I think we're going to see pockets of it increasing in the next one to two weeks."

In addition to being airborne, Thakore said the virus can also be difficult to contain because people can be contagious for up to four days before the rash appears.

He said Alberta Children's Hospital staff are preparing for more cases of a vaccine-preventable illness some of them have never had to deal with before.

"In the early 2000s you never heard about it. You never saw it," he said. "Now we're seeing it and we're going to have to deal with it. So my whole group in the hospital, we're just making sure we're up to date on what needs to be done."

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Seeing Alberta's case count rise is frustrating for physicians, including Dr. Isabelle Chapados.

"This is 100 per cent preventable," said Chapados, a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta.

"It was written in the sky as rates of vaccination were coming down."

Alberta's routine childhood immunization schedule recommends children get two doses of the measles vaccine — the first at 12 months and the second at 18 months of age.

However, vaccination rates have been dropping.

Provincial data shows 69.3 per cent of Alberta children were fully vaccinated with two doses by the age of two in 2023, with some parts of the province dipping well below 50 per cent.

The target is 95 per cent.

Thakore is urging people to ensure they and their children are fully vaccinated. People who are unsure should talk to their health care provider, he said.

"It would be very unfortunate if you're not getting vaccinated because of false information," he said.

"The measles vaccine is a safe vaccine. And it works."

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the single MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine was introduced in the provinces between 1974 and 1983. The routine two-dose MMR vaccine was brought in nationally between 1996 and 1997.

The country saw a dramatic decrease in measles cases after the vaccine was introduced, and in 1998 the virus was considered "eliminated" in Canada because endemic transmission was no longer taking place.

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Alberta's Health Minister, Adriana LaGrange, said the province is working to get information out to Albertans.

"We've seen vaccine hesitancy not just in Alberta, but right across Canada and globally. So we're giving the information out as much as possible," she said on Monday.

Alberta Health plans to start publishing a daily update on measles case counts on Tuesday. The numbers are expected to be updated at 12:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

When asked about whether or not she endorses two doses of the measles vaccine, LaGrange said she does.

"We continue to work with young families and make sure they have the information they need to make good choices for themselves and their families," LaGrange said.

Measles can be dangerous, leading to complications including swelling of the brain, pneumonia and even death, Alberta Health says.

"That's scary. So that's the risk we have to deal with and we may be facing ... over these next couple of weeks," said Thakore. 

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Between one and three in every 1,000 people who contract the virus will die, the province said. And more than 90 per cent of people who are not immune to measles and who come into contact with the virus will become infected.

Babies are among those most at risk, Chapados said, because they're not protected until after they get their second dose at 18 months.

"The only protection we have is to collectively all get our vaccinations done. Otherwise those babies are sitting ducks," she said. 

Adults born before 1970 are likely immune because measles circulated widely at that time, according to the province. People born on or after 1970 are susceptible if they don't have two doses, AHS said. 

Meanwhile, the province said it's aware of several separate and unrelated ways that measles was introduced into Alberta, noting it was brought in through an Ontario connection and through "at least two international sites."

The Alberta government's measles website provides more information on how the virus spreads, its symptoms, immunization and what to do if you think you may be infected.