NDP health critic concerned by measles numbers
By Lethbridge Herald on May 27, 2025.
Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Sarah Hoffman, NDP shadow minister for Health and a former healt minister herself, is deeply concerned but not surprised by the number of measles infections in the province, which is now closing in on 600.
“It’s not a loss to me that Lethbridge, where half the people don’t have a family doctor, and southern Alberta is one of the areas where we’re having the biggest outbreaks right now.”
She adds that those who don’t have a family doctor are able to call 811 to see if they are updated on their vaccines and if not, they can be directed to a clinic to get the vaccine.
Hoffman says she understands that life gets busy and it can be easy to forget but, especially in times of outbreak, it is important that everyone is immunized.
“I know there’s a lot of people who just aren’t aware, things got in the way, maybe their kid was sick last time they were due for their vaccines and didn’t get back in.”
Hoffman says those with any concerns about the possible side effects of the Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine should speak with their physician or call 811 about their concerns.
She says she only had one dose of the MMR herself until just a few years ago, after needing a tetanus shot, she was offered the booster which she gladly accepted and says she has peace of mind when leaving the house.
Over a year ago, Dr. Mark Joffe, former chief medical officer of health, raised alarms about measles, but it took the province until just a couple of weeks ago to actually make a vaccine campaign.
Measles was irradicated in Canada in the 1990s and Hoffman says it’s possible to do it again, but everyone has to do their part.
“I really hope people can call public health and get vaccinated because in the lat 90’s they actually had eradicated measles right across Canada, so it’s absolutely doable we just need to be intentional.”
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Surprise, surprise , worst part of the province right here on Lethbridge’s doorstep. Localised outbreaks also in Ontario. The connection? Limited measles vaccination because of vaccine skeptism connected to religious rhetoric and falsehoods.
Enders and his team tested their measles vaccine on small groups of children from 1958 to 1960, before beginning trials on thousands of children in New York City and Nigeria. In 1961 it was hailed as 100% effective and the first measles vaccine was licensed for public use in 1963.
After the Covid vaccine roll out which was rolled out in 3 months one must look no further than the development of the measles vaccine to understand why there is reluctance in some parts to partake in any program. Sound testing and effectiveness before being distributed publicly. Unlike the Covid vaccine. Measles vaccines are available in schools.
You missed the point or perhaps UR just looking for a fight. I was talking about measles not COVID (Although that would be an interesting conversation). Available in schools or not, it is the reluctance of certain groups to not participate , based on their self righteous belief of Biblical truth. Their reluctance in part is responsible for these very localized outbreaks. Mandatory vaccination for all participants should occur in order to defeat this latest preventable outbreak. Belief in the totally discredited statements of Dr Andrew Wakefield (MMR and autism) is another contributing factor.
yes, you are speaking to measles, while buck is drawing a contrast, at least in terms of some public perception, between how the measles and covid vaxes were rolled out.
I’m guessing the top-flight journal, Nature, isn’t on your reading list. If it were, you might have caught the article published on Sept. 14, 2021 documenting the long history of mRNA research, dating back decades.
yes, but mrna had not been rolled out in much of a mass way, and certainly not near as was the approach for covid. i suspect this was a part of the refusal to vax.
biff, I have no idea what you are talking about. That said, having paid attention to your posts, your opposition to the COVID vaccine has shifted from (a) the COVID pandemic is not really a pandemic, to (b) the vaccine isn’t really a vaccine because it’s not 100% effective, to (c) personal bodily autonomy, to (d) it’s “Big Pharma” seeking profits, to, finally, (e) animal cruelty.
Have I missed anything out?
you usually read better than this post suggests.
i wrote that mrna had not been very widely used prior to covid. moreover, and, again, i am speaking to my sense of how public perception might affect the right of each of vax, and not to whether any vaxes are good or bad.
here is a link to that journal you find to be fair, the very same article, i believe. i have read as much as it permits, many words to that point, and i do not see where mrna had been widely used prior to covid. it seems covid vaxing was its real coming out party. that said, again, it is public perception – the possible perception of those not vaxing – i discussed.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02483-w
to sum up my outlook on vaxing, seeing as you are asking:
1) it is the divine, universal right of each adult to have ownership over their body, and to consent with others, or not, as to how they use their body, and what they use or do not use; however, this right is limited such that one’s rights may not extend into or infringe upon the rights of another.
2) i am opposed to the torture, cruelty, and inhumanity that is inflicted upon non-human and non-consenting sentient life to derive products. it should hardly be difficult to accept one might avoid products one finds to be repulsive.
3) with regard to vaxing: if a vax works, and one wishes to take one, it will protect one based on how well it works. one does not need another, and one does not get to force or coerce others to take a vax for one’s own sense of safety.
i am not at all debating whether vaxes are useful or otherwise. i am saying each has the right to their body – take what you wish, although i wish we did not have so much hubris and so little compassion as to feel systemic torture of sentient life is acceptable behaviour.
has one ever read “the ones who walk away from omelas”? a brilliant inquiry presented as a short story. i reference it because the author has imagined a society where a virtually perfect quality of life exists, only that it depends upon the ongoing suffering of one person. for the many, that person’s suffering for their happiness is acceptable; but, there are some who walk away from omelas. the writing can be interpreted several ways. i reference it because i am touched by question of how much suffering does one have the right to impose on another, for any reason.
https://files.libcom.org/files/ursula-k-le-guin-the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas.pdf
i believe buck is speaking to one of the primary reasons many turned away from the covid vax rollouts, and not specifically measles vaxing. i suspect, however, that the ultra- religious minded are more the brunt of those not vaxing for measles, while those not vaxing for covid included a broader base.
thus, buck is likely correct in pointing out that it seemed to those many that the covid vaxes were not tested enough, and, appeared especially quick given that covid also seemed to come out of nowhere. again, it is about perspective, and not a debate as to how safe and good were/are those vaxes. thus, compared to the likes of a measles vax, which seemed far more rigorous in terms of its testing time and mass roll out, as well as its emerging in a era where trust in govt and big corp was more typical among the masses, those concerns and more affected covid vax rates. moreover, as the measles is a rather static type of virus, and whereas covid, like the flu, for example, is one given to mutation, there will have been skepticism around effectiveness of vaxing for covid.
i suspect there were also hold outs due to the mrna concern. while mrna approaches had been many years imposed on non-human sentient species in labs, there was only some but not a relative lot of prior mrna use on humans, and that may also have created reticence. thus, many already skeptical and cynical about govt and big corp were more willing to take their chances with covid, rather than with vaxes that may have appeared too sci fi.
still, beyond strictly religious based refusal to vax for measles, there was and remains concern around what is in vaxes. and, albeit among too few of us, there is refusal to use anything pharm due to the cruel, unnecessary, torturous, inhumane nature of how stuff pharm is developed, be it via inflicting pain and misery upon rodents, cats and dogs, monkeys….and, of course, given how we have been poisoned more than once by big pharm/chem, and rather routinely, perhaps, antivaxing has a fairly broad basis.
You got it biff. The others were looking for a fight. It’s called critical and logical thinking. We win today!!! 😁😁
Not looking for a fight. But you haven’t said if you’ve read the paper I referenced.
The letter was about measles . Vaccine skeptical beliefs are the primary cause for large outbreaks in these geographical clusters in Alberta and Ontario – Areas associated with large numbers of close knit religious communities. Skeptics exist across the country and are not related to one or two geographical areas.
Shame on the NDP for politicizing the measles outbreak! You continue to stoop low in an effort to sew uncertainty, decent and cause strife at a time we need unity!
The NDP fails to recognize or gain knowledge why this has spread and it has nothing to do with doctor shortages, which are Canada wide! You think we are not smart enough to see that doctor and nurse shortages are North American wide not just in Alberta? Just because you do not take the time to research the causes, don’t think that Albertan’s are stupid and naive and can be swayed by your misinformation you spew in a desparate attempt of political gain! The federal NDP was annihilated, losing official party status, yet you continue on your path to destruction yourself.
For those of us who live in southern Alberta in the region impacted, we know that most of the infections are from those who faith doesn’t believe in vaccines.
It has nothing to do with a lack of doctors! It is shameful that the NDP, as always wants to create conflict instead of focusing on the true issues!
Lies and deceit!
“Lies and deceit”. Useless and inaccurate rhetoric. The gist of the letter concerns lack of doctors (true) and lack of widespread vaccination in some areas. (Which you agree with). You forget that skepticism based on web- trolling is another cause. Hoffman as stated, is the shadow minister for God’s sake and as such she is perfectly entitled to lament the lack of doctors local or nationwide. “Shameful” it is not.
OMG! A member of the Official Opposition doing her job, which is to criticize the government.
And for the record the doctor shortage certainly is part of the problem. Case in point – when I went to my family physician a year ago for a routine appointment, her nurse looked at my records and found I was due for vaccination boosters. If I had no other choice but to go to a walk-in clinic, or worse the ER, for my prescription renewal, I doubt my needing vaccinations would have been caught.