On Nov. 10, 2025, Canada has lost its measles elimination status after nearly three decades due to its failure to curb a year-long outbreak, the Pan American Health Organization said, a loss that also results in the Americas region losing the status.

Health experts last month predicted the Pan American Health Organization would strip Canada of the elimination status. The country has recorded more than 5,000 measles cases in nine of its 10 provinces and one northern territory.

Although the Americas region as a whole has also lost its elimination status, he said, individual countries keep their status. Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay and the United States are also facing active outbreaks.

Measles is a highly preventable disease when countries attain a 95% vaccination coverage rate. That is the level needed for a community to achieve herd immunity and protect those who are unable to receive the vaccine, which is 97% effective after two doses.

Health experts said spread of the virus, enabled by slipping vaccination rates in parts of Canada, is a harbinger of a resurgence of more vaccine-preventable illnesses in a population increasingly skeptical and mistrustful of vaccines since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Americas region only regained its measles-free status in 2024, after an outbreak in Brazil was stopped.

To retain its elimination status, the United States has a deadline of January 20 to prove it has halted continuous transmission of the strain that started in Texas last January 20 that kicked off a large outbreak, according to Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunization official.