Winnipeg Free Press

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A2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2025 VOL 154 NO 149 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2025 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published six days a week in print and always online at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 CEO / MIKE POWER Editor / PAUL SAMYN Associate Editor Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS Associate Editor News / STACEY THIDRICKSON Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Director Photo and Multimedia / MIKE APORIUS NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL The Winnipeg Free Press is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to determine acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please send them to: editorialconcerns@freepress.mb.ca. 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INSIDE Arts and Life C1 Business B5 Classifieds D7 Comics C5 Diversions C6-7 Horoscope C4 Miss Lonelyhearts C4 Obituaries D6 Opinion A6-7 Sports D1 Television C4 Weather B8 What’s Up C2 READER SERVICE ● GENERAL INQUIRIES 204-697-7000 CIRCULATION INQUIRIES MISSING OR INCOMPLETE PAPER? Call or email before 10 a.m. weekdays or 11 a.m. Saturday City: 204-697-7001 Outside Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 press 1 6:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.; 7 a.m. - noon Saturday; Closed Sunday TO SUBSCRIBE: 204-697-7001 Out of Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 The Free Press receives support from the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada The province only reports measles statistics once a week, on Wednesdays. The majority of cases are unvacci- nated or under-vaccinated children who have been exposed in their com- munities. “We want to make sure that we eliminate any barriers for access for anyone that has an interest in being immunized and hasn’t up to now, or maybe they’ve changed their mind recently,” said Singh, who works with the provincial immunization program. “Secondly, we need to try to con- vince people or change people’s minds that are vaccine hesitant for whatever reason and have not gotten immu- nized.” He said contrary to what some may believe, the disease can be severe. He pointed to Ontario where a child under the age of five died last year. One in 12 infected children need hospitalization, and one in 10 require intensive care, Singh said. Measles can cause middle ear or lung infections, and one in 1,000 people get encephalitis, which can lead to seizures, deafness or brain damage. One to three of every 1,000 people with measles will die. For those who don’t trust the infor- mation they receive from government sources or media, Singh urged them to speak to a family doctor or pharmacist. “We’ve already seen an increase in requests for immunization in the Boundary Trails area, which is — up to now — where the majority of cases have been and still the majority of cases overall have been in that rough geographic area,” he said, noting he couldn’t yet provide specifics. It’s too soon to say if Manitoba will see a major outbreak of measles, as Ontario and Alberta have. Ontario re- ported 1,243 cases Wednesday, which sent 84 people to hospital (including 63 children). Alberta has seen 297 cases and 11 hospitalizations. “I think we have to be concerned that a rapid increase is definitely a realistic possibility, but no, it’s not a certainty. We just have to try to plan and try to inform and change people’s perceptions as much as possible to give them an accurate idea of what’s going on. Then, you’ll see which way things will go,” said Singh. Pediatrician-scientist Dr. Peter Hotez, who’s studied anti-vaccine activism in the U.S. and is speaking in Winnipeg this week, urged public health officials to do whatever they can to debunk anti-vaccine misinfor- mation, using simple infographics, advocacy and education. If measles cases “really explode, there isn’t much you can do in terms of preventing severe illness,” said Hotez, with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Measles have killed three unvaccinated people in the U.S. this year — including two school-aged children in Texas with no underlying medical conditions. Hotez said in an interview an- ti-vaccine activism has pivoted from COVID-19 to childhood immunizations, and accelerated in conservative, rural areas of the U.S. where there are lower vaccination rates and more outbreaks. Hotez pointed to a 2024 Gallup poll asking U.S. parents if they think vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they’re designed to prevent. It found significantly higher rates of vac- cine hesitancy among parents identify- ing as Republicans, who reported that pediatric vaccines were either unim- portant or presented higher risks due to side effects. The findings coincided with recent increases in childhood ill- nesses, including 15 measles outbreaks in 2024, compared to four in 2023. “It’s that same partisan, political divide again. You could almost use it as a roadmap or a guide — at least here in Texas and the Great Plains areas where COVID vaccination rates are lowest. That’s where we’re seeing the spillover to childhood immunizations,” Hotez said. “Even if Manitoba doesn’t get a big measles epidemic this year, you know, as these trends continue, we can even- tually expect one.” — with files from Malak Abas carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca MEASLES ● FROM A1 Exposure sites MANITOBA Health announced new measles exposure sites Tuesday. Public health asked individuals who think they may have been exposed at the following locations, but have not been dir- ectly notified, to contact Health Links-Info Santé at 204-788-8200 in Winnipeg or 1-888-315-9257 toll-free in Manitoba: Health officials said a potential exposure occurred during École Dugald School field trip last week to the Manitoba Museum, along with the students’ regular daily bus service to and from school. The province said the measles exposure was on Bus 128, route 79, which not only services the school in Dugald, but also takes students to Oakbank Elementary, Springfield Middle School and Springfield Collegiate Institute, on April 29 and 30 and May 2 from 8:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., and 3:40 p.m. to 6 p.m. Other exposures were at École Dugald School, on April 29 and 30, and May 2, from 8:45 a.m. to 5:40 p.m., and Bus 26, route 72, which services the same schools as the other bus and on the same days, but from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and 4 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. People who were in these places are advised to watch for symptoms until May 24, including a red rash, fever, cough, runny nose, upper respiratory symptoms and fatigue. Serious complications such as pneumonia, blindness and death are possible. Manitobans were also exposed at the Boundary Trails Health Centre’s emergency department waiting room on April 27 from 4:11 p.m. to 10:07 p.m. People have to watch for symptoms until May 19. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS ‘Even if Manitoba doesn’t get a big measles epidemic this year, you know, as these trends continue, we can eventually expect one,’ Dr. Peter Hotez said. ;