With measles making an incredible comeback across the country, new polls show that more Canadians believe the vaccine is essential for school children, but a considerable number of parents are still unconvinced.
A poll by Angus Reed, released Thursday, shows mandatory childhood measles vaccinations have jumped up over the past year, but one in five parents hesitate or opposed.
While most provinces do not require a vaccine to enroll in schools, Ontario and New Brunswick require evidence of vaccination for children attending schools and daycare.
Nearly seven in 10 Canadian adults and 60% of Alberta said their children need to be vaccinated to attend day care or school, polls found. That's when only 55% of Canadians and 48% of Albertans felt the same last year.
These figures line up with an IPSOS poll conducted for Global News in March 2024, with seven in 10 Canadians thinking they should be vaccinated against measles unless they are banned for medical reasons, polls found. And six in 10 believe that even if parents personally oppose vaccination, their children need to get shots.
Among parents with children under the age of 12, 37% believe vaccination should be a parent's choice. And for those with children under the age of 18, at least one in five falls into the category of hesitation (13%) or totally opposed (9%) when it comes to following the recommended vaccine schedule.
While 69% of Canadians support essential childhood vaccinations, the bad news is that this has yet to be deprived of the 95% vaccination rate needed to achieve herd immunity.
How bad is measles now?
As of late May 2025, Canada has experienced the most significant measles outbreak for over 25 years.
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Latest figures from the Canadian Public Health Agency (PHAC) show that since the beginning of 2025, 2,515 measles cases have been reported in nine provinces, including Ontario, Alberta, Quebec and British Columbia.
Ontario is particularly affected, with over 1,800 cases reported, exceeding the US total at the same time.
Most cases come from people who have not been vaccinated from communities with low vaccination rates.
That's why health officials are urging people to get shots as it is the most effective way to avoid catching highly contagious diseases. One dose given in 12 or 15 months provides about 85-95% protection, with the second dose bumping up to nearly 100%.
Angus Reed's poll also highlighted the recognition of the seriousness of measles.
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Only one in ten Canadians agree with the statement that “measles aren't as bad as they think it is,” a view that approaches one in five (18%) among those who voted for the Conservative Party in the April federal election, a barely existential opinion for supporters of other parties.
Polls found that many Canadians were unsure that the provincial government could effectively handle the outbreak of measles.
One in four respondents were totally unsure, up from 37% in Alberta, 30% in Saskatchewan and 27% in Ontario.
At the same time, most people still trust the vaccine. 91 percent believe that measles shots work to protect individuals, while 89 percent say the vaccine helps reduce community spread, polls found.
A 2024 Ipsos poll found similar figures, showing that 83% of Canadians trust the safety of the measles vaccine, slightly higher than 80% who said the same thing about the flu shot, well over 71% of Covid-19 vaccines.
However, concerns about side effects have not disappeared.
Three in 10 Canadians believe the vaccine carries a real risk of serious side effects, and that number has jumped to 50% among conservative voters these days. The belief that vaccine science is also unclear has now fallen from 29% in 2019 and 2024 to 23%.
The Angus Reed Institute conducted an online survey on May 20-23, 2025, among a randomized sample of 1,685 Canadian adults who were members of the Angus Reed Forum. This sample was weighted as representatives of adults across the country based on the Canadian census, according to region, gender, age, household income and education. For comparison purposes only, probability samples of this size have an error bar of +/- 2% points for 19 out of 20. The contradiction of the sum or total is due to rounding. The investigation was self-commissioned and paid by ARI.
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