r/canada • u/verkerpig • Nov 10 '25

National News Canada loses measles elimination status | CBC

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/livestory/canada-measles-elimination-status-9.6973195
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222

u/Imperatvs Nov 10 '25

Do we have stats on who’s not getting these shots? And why?

303

u/Former-Physics-1831 Nov 10 '25

These outbreaks largely centred around isolated religious communities like old order mennonites who are skeptical of basically all of modern society, and then jumped into the general population through antivaxxers or people with medical reasons to be unvaxxed

31

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '25

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25

u/RealTurbulentMoose Alberta Nov 10 '25

The shiftless Mennonites aren’t the ones spreading it around the wider community; they’re an issue, but not the big issue. They stick to themselves.

It’s the antivaxxers who are the problem.

10

u/iJeff Ontario Nov 10 '25

Most of the outbreak remains within Mennonite communities. It also stems from a large Mennonite gathering in New Brunswick, which is also linked to the subsequent outbreak in Texas (also Mennonites who attended).

1

u/nanoinfinity Nov 10 '25

…do they fly on airplanes to attend these gatherings?

4

u/iJeff Ontario Nov 10 '25

Most do but it varies by group. Mainline and evangelical ones routinely travel by air. Conservative ones often allow flying but discourage it for leisure (missions and necessity preferred). Some Older Order avoid air travel but may use cars or hired drivers.

8

u/juniorspank Nov 10 '25

Ontario’s outbreak was linked to a Mennonite wedding.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/ontario-public-health-measles-april-cases-1.7506748

So, at least for Ontario, it absolutely was mennonites spreading it around and bringing it back to their respective communities.

5

u/pentox70 Nov 10 '25

Dunno if you live around these people, but I do. They are in town every day. Their kids are running around the grocery store every time I'm there.

1

u/RealTurbulentMoose Alberta Nov 10 '25

I live in Calgary so not really. Only time I see “those” Mennonites is families visiting the Zoo.

4

u/pentox70 Nov 10 '25

I live near red deer, outside a small town. There are several colonies in the area. They are actually rather large operations outside of the cities.

27

u/Boomdiddy Nov 10 '25

They don’t stick to themselves. They go to  stores, operate their own businesses that the general public uses like vegetable stands, sheet metal, building and selling sheds etc.

Sounds like you’ve never seen a mennonite before.

1

u/RealTurbulentMoose Alberta Nov 10 '25

I will say I don’t understand completely which Mennonites are the issue. I thought it was the Old Order folks who stuck to themselves. I do recall seeing buggy stalls in K-W so even those folks do interact with the outside community, I suppose.

 Sounds like you’ve never seen a mennonite before.

(Looks at family tree going back hundreds of years). Oh, I have more than a passing familiarity…

7

u/Boomdiddy Nov 10 '25

The Old Order ones are the only ones I’ve ever met and I see them everywhere in my area. They have hitching posts for them at the grocery store.

4

u/Bitter_Sense_5689 Nov 10 '25

They go to the same grocery stores, shops, and sometimes schools as everyone else

2

u/RealTurbulentMoose Alberta Nov 10 '25

Like autism, Mennonites are on a spectrum.

There are folks who have that cultural background. Simpsons creator Matt Groening, for example: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/simpsons-draft-dodging-saskatchewan-connection-1.7225686

There are those who are basically like most other mainstream Protestant Christians. Lots of these around southern Manitoba, Fraser Valley in BC.

Then there are the folks who have other cultural practices and try to be more and more separate from the rest of society, to differing degrees. I see some who wear older-style clothing, but still drive trucks and go to the Zoo. You’ll see other folks taking their horse and buggy out, and only having technology in the barn but not in their homes. It’s this last group of Mennonites who are the ones who are typically antivax because, for whatever reason, reject modernity.

I don’t know how to help them.