By James Peters

After Vancouver outbreak, no measles cases in Interior Health yet

Feb 20, 2019 | 2:34 PM

KELOWNA — Interior Health says it has yet to see any cases of the measles, days after Vancouver Coastal Health declared an outbreak at two urban schools.

Nine cases of measles have been confirmed in Vancouver.

In the Interior, Medical Health Officer Dr. Silvina Mema says no cases have been confirmed, but IH conducts tests regularly for suspected cases.

“As you know, measles is endemic in other parts of the world, and people travel,” said Mema. “So sometimes we do have people who have travelled outside of the Interior and they come back and they are seen by a physician and they believe perhaps they have measles, so we investigate them.”

Immunization rates have historically been low in the Kootenay region, and Mema says IH officials are well aware of that.

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“The Kootenays have one of the lowest immunization rates, and it’s not just for measles or for MMR; it affects other vaccines as well. That is something that we’ve known for a long time, and we are making efforts there to try to address that.”

Mema says IH puts a lot of work into educating Kootenay residents about the advantages of vaccines.

“Some people will object to that, and will not want to immunize their children. For them, we keep saying the messages that we say: that vaccines are safe and effective. But sometimes, people will object and will not immunize. So that may draw immunization rates down,” said Mema.

“Really, what we are trying to do here is to remind people that they need to follow the B.C. immunization schedule, and that includes measles-containing vaccines and other vaccines that are also effective at preventing other diseases.”