Good morning. Widespread misinformation – and RFK Jr. – are making measles cases rise again. More on that below, along with looming U.S. tariffs and a vanishing Alberta glacier. But first:
Today’s headlines
U.S. tariffs on Canada and Mexico are coming on Tuesday, but may not be 25 per cent, Lutnick says
Anora wins big, but Conan O’Brien pushes Oscars night to wickedly funny, if super-long, heights
Israeli fire kills at least two people in Gaza, raising fears the ceasefire could collapse
A public health clinic in Brownfield, Texas, last week.Julio Cortez/The Associated Press
Health
A preventable crisis
Measles is making a remarkable comeback. In the past two weeks alone, Ontario reported 78 new cases as part of an outbreak that started in October – the largest measles crisis in the province in more than a quarter century. Last spring, an unvaccinated child in Hamilton died from the virus; since then, there have also been outbreaks in New Brunswick and Quebec. In the U.S., 164 measles cases have erupted across nine states this year, the vast majority of them in unvaccinated children in Texas. Last Tuesday night, one of those children died, the first death of an American child from measles in 22 years.
The next day, in his first public appearance as U.S. Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downplayed the seriousness of the spread. “It’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year,” he told reporters. In Kennedy’s estimation – and I’m quoting here from his highly unscientific The Measles Book, published by his anti-vax nonprofit in 2021 – “measles outbreaks have been fabricated to create fear,” so the government can “inflict unnecessary and risky vaccines on millions of children for the sole purpose of fattening industry profits.”
To be clear: That’s not true. A 2015 study found that before widespread vaccination, measles may have been responsible for as many as half of all infectious-disease deaths in kids. Now, outbreaks are rising in Canada and the United States – while childhood immunization rates are on the decline. In the U.S., roughly 280,000 kindergartners had no documented vaccination against measles last school year, about 100,000 more than before the pandemic. The Canadian Journal of Public Health found that measles vaccination coverage in two year olds fell from 89.5 per cent in 2019 to 82.5 per cent in 2023.
Some of the dip in coverage can be attributed to children who weren’t vaccinated in school during pandemic lockdowns. Some of it has to do with a lack of access to primary care: In Ontario, for example, more than 360,000 children had no family doctor in 2023. But much of it can be chalked up to vaccine misinformation peddled by Kennedy and his cohort spreading rapidly online. Already, anti-vax advocates have insisted that the Texas outbreak is being caused by the measles shot. Again, to be clear: It’s not.
“Doctors are increasingly concerned about patients being exposed to misinformation online, including debunked theories about vaccination,” Kristy Kirkup, a health reporter at The Globe, told me. Canadians struggle to separate health facts from fiction: A Canadian Medical Association (CMA) survey last month found that 78 per cent of us are highly or moderately susceptible to believing health misinformation. And CMA president Joss Reimer warns the consequences of that misinformation can be profound. In a recent interview with Kirkup, Reimer mentioned a patient who had begun to hemorrhage after giving birth. The woman refused the blood transfusion she needed over concerns about “vaccinated blood.”
Family doctor Alykhan Abdulla at home in Ottawa.Justin Tang/The Globe and Mail
Public health officials told Kirkup they’re working to arm families with data about vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. The numbers are pretty compelling: The virus is so contagious that you can catch it two hours after someone with measles has left the room; it’s so dangerous that, in the U.S. last year, 40 per cent of people with measles were hospitalized. But doctors recognize this information has to be delivered in a manner that unravels vaccine hesitancy – and that can be more art than science.
Alykhan Abdulla, who has practised as a family doctor for more than 30 years, summed up his strategies for Kirkup: He never tells patients they’re flat-out wrong. He doesn’t debate or escalate. Instead, he patiently asks them questions. “The right way to start is to say: ‘What are your concerns? Where did you get that information? How have you checked those resources? What more guidance can I give you?’” he said. That same CMA study found 80 per cent of Canadians believe physicians to be a quality source of health information. Abdulla relies on those feelings of trust.
Dismantling vaccine misinformation and skepticism takes time, and it depends on families having access to a primary care provider, which currently isn’t the case for more than 6.5 million Canadians. But it absolutely makes a difference for hesitant parents – and in turn for kids who are at the greatest risk of contracting measles. “With a couple of visits and thoughtful dialogue,” Abdulla said, “I’d say that more than half – maybe even two-thirds – of those people go along with vaccines, because they’re motivated to protect their children.”
The Shot
‘Every time I come on to the glacier, I’m shocked at how much it’s changed.’
Checking out a crevasse sculpted by water drainage from melting ice.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail
A vanishing Alberta glacier attracts a new kind of last-chance tourism – and offers visitors an opportunity to collect vital research data and deepen their connection to the terrain. Read more about (and see more amazing photos from) the Athabasca Glacier here.
The Week
What we’re following
Today: Ontario replaces the Pap test with a more reliable screening procedure to detect HPV.
Tomorrow: Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from Canada are slated to come into effect. The U.S. President will also address a joint session of Congress at 9 p.m. ET.
Tomorrow: B.C. tables its provincial budget, which – like Alberta’s budget last week – will need to brace for a U.S. trade war.
Thursday: After meeting in London over the weekend to discuss joint security, EU leaders kick off a special summit in Brussels on defence and Ukraine.
Sunday: A week and a half after voting first opened, the Liberal Party announces the winner of its leadership race – and Canada’s next prime minister.
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