Around 450 children under the age of one have received the measles vaccine in Manitoba since the government expanded eligibility for the shot last month. The decision has been taken to fight an ongoing measles outbreak in the province. From May 14, infants between the ages of six and 12 months old living in the Southern Health and the Interlake-Eastern health authority regions are eligible to get the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, as can those who travel regularly or have close contact with people in those regions. Before the province decided to expand the eligibility, kids six to 12 months old could only get one dose of the vaccine if they were travelling to a “measles-endemic country.”
Provincial health authorities said the number 450 represents “preliminary data”, meaning that there could be more children vaccinated since May 14 whose data has not yet been reported in immunization registries. In the Southern Health region, which encompasses a large part of southern Manitoba, health officials confirmed that 104 MMR vaccinations have been given to children between the ages of six and 12 months old since the May eligibility expansion. Meanwhile, Manitoba continues to register new measles cases, with 72 confirmed and four probable during the first week of June. In an interview with CBC’s Information Radio, Dr. Anna Banerji, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto, said the rising number of measles cases in Canada is a serious concern, especially for infants and pregnant people.
