Vaccines were once mandatory for students in Manitoba. Does a measles outbreak warrant a return?

Linda Ross wonders whether the measles outbreak in Manitoba would have escalated to hundreds of cases if school divisions had insisted on mandatory vaccination against the disease for students nearly a decade ago.

“I don’t make predictions about the future, but I have to admit that this thought has crossed my mind from time to time,” Ross, a Brandon school division trustee, told CBC.

In 2018, his division asked the Manitoba School Boards Association formally lobby the province Making vaccination for many diseases, including measles, a requirement for students.

Proposal fell the BeatSchool boards voted overwhelmingly against it. Ross said parental rights were the main argument.

But as the province grapples with a measles outbreak not seen in years, she wants vaccinations to be a requirement to attend classes.

“If you have not vaccinated your children and there is no compelling medical reason for them not to be vaccinated, the question is, is it appropriate to put those children in public schools where you are now putting other people at risk?” Ross said.

The School Board Association’s 2018 proposal recommended mandatory vaccinations for nine diseases, with exemptions for students who had allergies or other medical conditions.

School officials were concerned about declining vaccination rates as more cases of preventable diseases were being reported, Ross said. chair of Brandon School Division at that time.

“Schools are a wonderful breeding ground for the spread of diseases,” he said. “You have a lot of people in close proximity to each other for most of the day…it’s really problematic.”

‘This is completely unnecessary’

Ross is concerned that herd immunity will wane so much that diseases will begin to spread again years after eradication.

“That’s what’s happening right now,” she said. “It’s really scary to see diseases we’ve eliminated coming back.”

While other provinces have managed to control their measles outbreaks in recent months, or declare them deadThe number of cases is still rising in Manitoba.

With only half the data, Manitoba has already arrived More measles cases recorded in February Compared to any single month since the outbreak began more than a year ago.

From February 2025, there are 27 people were admitted to hospital due to measles In Manitoba, two people, including 18 children under the age of 10, have been admitted to the ICU.

The province says 85 per cent of the 520 measles cases recorded so far in Manitoba involve people who have not had a dose of the measles vaccine. Vaccination status for the other five percent was unknown.

“It makes me angry,” Ross said. “This is absolutely unnecessary. We’ve made so much progress and now we’re going backwards.”

“The measles virus will not be limited to only those who have decided not to get vaccinated,” he said.

“It’s certainly going to spread to very young children and people who are vulnerable for other medical reasons. That’s very worrying.”

She thinks public health officials have done as much as they can to stop the spread of measles, and there are few options left for creating herd immunity.

“Other than making vaccination mandatory with medical exceptions, I don’t know what else we can do.”

tipping point

Dr. Gerald Evans, an infectious disease specialist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, said several studies point to mandatory vaccination for measles. It has helped in reducing the number of cases.

This is especially effective among children, Evans said, because measles is highly contagious and children in school spend more time with others than adults.

“Adults socialize, but not to the same extent as young children and teens. That makes transmission much easier.”

The first dose of the vaccine and boosters are significantly more effective for younger people, Evans said.

The consequences of measles in children are also much more serious.

And for children who can’t get vaccinated because of medical conditions, the only way to protect against measles is herd immunity — underscoring the importance of high vaccination rates in school settings, Evans said.

Whereas Evans said there will be a push to make vaccines mandatory for students, arguing that we have reached extremesNT.

He said doctors are concerned about declining vaccination rates amid misinformation about vaccines on social media, which could favor the return of other preventable diseases after years without a case.

while canada is Now considered free from diseases like polioThey continue to live in the environment.

A return of such disease “would be a major challenge to the health care system… (and) there would be significant mortality and morbidity among these unvaccinated people,” Evans said.

Manitoba has relied on health-care providers to encourage vaccinations, but Evans isn’t sure the strategy is effective if unvaccinated people trust online content more than doctors.

“The mandate will at least help stem and push back such a tidal wave of disinformation,” he said.

Manitoba is not considering mandates

But making vaccines mandatory is not a decision that can be taken lightly, said Michelle Dreiser, a University of Manitoba professor who specializes in community health.

He pointed to vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, which have drawn mixed reactions, even from people who are generally in favor of vaccination.

“Is that an artifact of what we’re seeing in the (current) phase of routine vaccinations?” He said. “No one can know completely, but it may have a slight impact.”

Vaccine mandates may be recommended by public health, Dreger said, but implementing them is ultimately the government’s decision.

Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s Chief Public Health Officer, said at a press conference last week Manitoba is not considering mandating measles vaccines at this point, but public health will continue to rely on building trust between health-care workers and people living in high-risk areas.

Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the province ““We follow the guidance of Manitoba public health officials, who…provide evidence-based recommendations to inform our response.”

Vaccination is one of the most effective tools to prevent serious disease, Asagwara said, and the province is trying to increase vaccination rates by working directly with communities to provide information and doses.

The education minister told CBC that questions about vaccinations should be directed toward public health.

Vaccines required in other provinces

new Brunswick And Ontario Children are already required to be vaccinated against measles – and many other diseases – before they can go to school. Exemptions have been given in both the provinces for some reasons.

In new Brunswick, Parents can choose not to vaccinate their children, but students may be kept out of school or day care if the disease spreads.

In OntarioParents who want an exemption on religious or conscientious grounds must first attend an education session to answer questions about vaccinations.

Ontario declared its measles outbreak over In October.

A Review released last month More than 40 per cent of Ontario public health units that responded to that outbreak cited implementing vaccine policies for students as one of the most effective tools in reducing the outbreak.

Brandon Trask, associate law professor at the University of Manitoba, said in theory, legislation mandating vaccination in Manitoba “could actually move forward quite quickly if there was the political will for it.”

But Trask, who said she is in favor of vaccination, said the political implications and legal complexities associated with such rules are “probably why only a few provinces in Canada have similar laws.”

Trask said Manitoba once required students to be vaccinated under the Public Schools Act, but this was repealed through an amendment in 1999.

Trask said it’s possible for the province to enact similar legislation again, but there could be some legal risks depending on how the rules are set.

He said these could be reduced if the province allows exemptions for medical, religious and conscientious reasons.

Without exemptions, there can be legal debate about violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but Section 1 of the Charter States that its provisions are subject to reasonable limits.

Trask said that in order to use that section to defend the vaccine mandate against a legal challenge, the province would need to show there were no other lesser measures that could achieve the same goal.

“It can be complicated,” he said.

But whether it’s required or not, Ross, a Brandon School Division trustee, says vaccination is about the responsibility a person living in the community has to protect others.

“(People) need to be concerned not only about their own well-being, but also about the well-being of others,” he said.