A recent outbreak of measles in B.C. has Saskatchewan talking about the relevance of vaccinations once again, despite there being no confirmed cases of the virus within the province since 2014.
Dr. Saqib Shahab, Chief Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health, addressed concerns surrounding the measles possibility in Saskatchewan, assuring the public that an outbreak is very unlikely due to the province’s current high rate of immunization among school-aged children paired with the high effectiveness of the MMR vaccine itself.
“Measles vaccine is very effective, so two doses are 99 per cent effective. What we’ve seen is that, for the most part, severe measles infection only happens in unvaccinated children. Sometimes vaccination can rarely get a mild illness, but it's not contagious,” said Shahab. “We hardly ever see full-blown measles in a vaccinated child.”
The efficiency of the vaccine remains partially contingent on what Shahab described as “community immunity,” a topic on which the Angus Reid Institute recently polled Canadians for their opinion. According to the poll, 92 per cent of Canadians agree that vaccinations effectively protect the community from illness, and 83 per cent of Canadians would vaccinate their children without reservation.
“What we have heard from physicians, and public health nurses, and pharmacists is the following: less than one per cent of people actually refuse immunizations due to personal beliefs,” said Shahab.
He also noted that of those few who refuse vaccination, many do so due to underlying conditions such as anaphylactic reactions or immune deficiencies. The larger portion of individuals who question immunization do so because they have questions about the topic — one in five Canadians believe there is a risk of serious side effects, and one-quarter of Canadians find the science behind vaccinations to be unclear.
Dr. Shahab’s advice to those with questions about vaccines is to do research using credible sources and to talk to a professional about the topic.
“We have seen people have that discussion with a public health nurse or a public health officer, and 9 times out of 10, they have decided to get vaccinated,” said Shahab.
The Angus Reid poll found that the overwhelming majority of respondents agreed that those campaigning against vaccination were irresponsible, and were largely supportive of vaccination in children. In fact, 70 per cent of Canadians claim they would be comfortable if vaccines were mandatory for children upon entering school, while 24 per cent say vaccination should be the parent’s choice.
This opinion seems to be prevalent in Saskatchewan, as the Ministry of Health is estimating the MMR vaccination rate of school-age children in the province to be at approximately 90 per cent. Ideally, according to Shahab, that rate would be at 95 per cent or higher, and he recommends parents take community immunity into consideration when deciding on vaccination.
“I think it's really important to understand that when we choose to get our child vaccinated, we obviously protect our children but we also protect others around them,” said Shahab. “It doesn't matter if your child is pre-school or is in school, or is a young adult who for some reason didn't get vaccinated, make that call [to Public Health] to get vaccinated.”
Questions about vaccinations can be directed towards local public health professionals, and more information about measles and immunization is available through the HealthLine at 811, or on the Ministry of Health website.
