Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending the province’s measles response, despite a concerning rise in cases since October, while one Toronto MPP says the current health measures are unacceptable.
Speaking with reporters at Queen’s Park on Wednesday, Ford said that the province is doing everything it can to contain the measles outbreak and blamed the issue on unvaccinated community members.
“Here’s the facts, there’s certain communities in Ontario [that], for religious reasons, are not getting their kids vaccinated,” Ford said.
“I encourage anyone and everyone, you need to get your kids vaccinated because, if not, it just starts spreading.”
At this time, 1,440 measles cases have been reported across the province since last October when the outbreak first started.
According to the premier, Ontario has now spent over $2 million to encourage people to get vaccinated and has 150,000 vaccination units available.
“We’re throwing everything and the kitchen sink at this,” he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Health Minister Sylvia Jones also spoke with reporters at a different event in Brampton, saying that she doesn’t think the government has had a passive response to the outbreak.
According to her, the ministry has directed public health units to focus on child vaccinations, and believes that this strategy, implemented over a year ago, is working to reduce cases.
“There’s no doubt that there are outbreaks in certain communities, and the focus needs to be on first reminding caregivers and parents the value and the efficacy of a measles vaccine that has been in place for over 50 years in the province of Ontario,” she said.
According to Ontario Public Health, the measles outbreak kicked off last October, after a travel-related case was reported in New Brunswick and spread across the province, arriving in Ontario.
This year, there have been 1,260 confirmed measles cases in the province where 76.4 per cent are children, 95.1 per cent of whom were not vaccinated.
Measles is a respiratory virus that is highly contagious and can cause fever, red rash, cough and red, watery eyes that can be avoided with proper immunization, which consists of two doses of a vaccine for most children and adults born after 1970.
According to Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a clinician and researcher with the University Health Network, measles can pose a bigger risk to certain groups, especially in children, sometimes leading to complications including brain inflammations or bacterial infections, such as pneumonia.
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MPP WEIGHS IN ON PROVINCE’S RESPONSE
Speaking with Now Toronto on Thursday, Don Valley East MPP Adil Shamji, who is also a doctor, criticized Ford for defending the government’s response, saying that it could be doing a lot more to contain the outbreak.
“The premier’s perspective on this government’s response to measles is thoroughly perplexing and bewildering,” he said. “We have the most cases of measles for any jurisdiction in Canada and across every state in America. Against that backdrop, to say that our government response is good enough is inexplicable.”
On Tuesday, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore warned that the province should expect to keep seeing around 140 cases of measles per week, praising local health-care workers for keeping the number at that.
“I’m happy that they’re able to keep the numbers down to 100 to 150 Ontarians that are getting infected on a weekly basis. To me that’s tremendous, hard and difficult work,” Moore said during an interview with CBC Radio-Canada on Tuesday.
But Shamji says that this response is unacceptable.
“I don’t accept that, and I can’t understand why the premier is willing to accept that either,” he said.
“What we’ve seen is the premier and his government make half-hearted, blue-core measures and then pat themselves on the back, despite the fact that all of these measures have failed,” he added.
According to the MPP, the provincial government should be working on providing more updates and information and looking for effective ways to encourage Ontarians to get vaccinated.
Some of the measures the doctor hoped to see include more health funding, television ad campaigns, mobile vaccination clinics, and perhaps moving vaccine registries digital.
“Right now, I know from a lot of parents, they’re not even sure if their children’s vaccination records are up to date. And a digital vaccine registry would go a long way towards addressing that issue,” he said.
“We have homegrown Ontario solutions for that. We just need a government that’s willing to take any of these actions and be serious about addressing measles.”
The doctor also urged Ontarians to get proper immunization, stressing that vaccines are extremely effective and safe, and are the most effective way people can protect themselves against measles.
“We have had a vaccine for measles now, for decades, it has proven to be profoundly effective and extremely safe. Anyone who is fully-vaccinated against measles can have a high degree of confidence that they are protected,” he said.
Residents wishing to get vaccinated can contact their family doctor, a local health unit or call 811 to find the closest vaccination post.
