The head of the Pan-American Health Agency said in an interview with Reuters that the Americas region is at risk of losing its measles eradication as the highly contagious disease continues to spread across Canada, Mexico and the United States.
For measles to be considered eradicated, the country where the epidemic occurred must return to zero infections within 12 months.
This deadline expires in Canada at the end of this month, but in the US it will be until January and in Mexico it will be until February.
PAHO Director Dr. Jalbas Barbosa said that all three countries risk not meeting deadlines, stripping them of their measles eradication status from the Americas and receding the broad goal of a world-eliminating measles by 2030.
He said the decline in vaccination rates is the cause of the spread of infection.
When asked whether longtime vaccine skeptics Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. was concerned about changes in the US policy, which is undergoing a full review of the vaccine recommendation system, Barbosa declined to criticize certain countries.
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But he stressed that it is important to make sure that accurate information is released to prevent vaccination rates from falling.
“We need to stick to science and evidence,” he said.
For example, he said “there is no evidence of a link between vaccines and autism,” and contradicted theories that vaccine skeptics, including Kennedy, have pushed in the past.
PAHO, the World Health Organization's Americas division, says 95% of the population will need to be vaccinated to prevent the spread of measles. Measles is a viral infection that can cause fever and characteristic rashes and cause dangerous complications.
According to WHO data, 92% of Canada's population has received their first dose of the vaccine, with only 79% of the second dose required for full prevention.
More than 5,000 measles cases have occurred in Canada this year, with two deaths, including the newborn deaths in Alberta, announced last week.
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The number of cases is on the decline, but in Canada it has only been a few weeks before it has shown that infections have completely stopped.
Measles has also been a major outbreak in the US and Mexico this year, with thousands of cases and several deaths.
After the outbreak in Brazil was stopped, the Americas region first regained measles eradication in 2024.
The United States is proceeding with the procedure to withdraw from WHO, but it is still a PAHO member state.
Separately, the head of Gabi, a vaccine group that helps fund vaccination campaigns in low-income countries, told Reuters that the group plans to work with governments in Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to launch four major nationwide activities to protect children from measles by the end of this year.
“This is unprecedented and we don't have the funding to do the same again,” said Gavi chief executive Sania Nishtar, who is facing budget cuts due to a decline in global aid budgets.
The US plans to cut Gavi's funding total (about $300 million a year) after President Kennedy said Gavi was ignoring safety without providing any evidence.