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But Canadians ought to take a long, hard look in the mirror before going after Florida, or anywhere else for that matter, on this one. The penny is dropping that when it comes to vaccination rates we don鈥檛 have much to boast about these days. On the contrary.

You may have heard this country is in the midst of a measles outbreak. Canada achieved 鈥渆limination status鈥� for the disease in 1998 but this year it鈥檚 come roaring back, so much so that The Guardian described Ontario as 鈥渢he measles centre of the western hemisphere.鈥�

How bad is it? I was surprised聽鈥� a bit shocked even聽鈥� to learn that Canada is the only advanced western nation on a top-ten list of the most measles-infected countries compiled by the World Health Organization. Heading the list are the likes of Yemen, Pakistan and India. But there we are at number nine with 4,019 cases through August of this year聽鈥� just behind Russia and just ahead of Mexico.

Canada鈥檚 outbreak is particularly bad in Ontario and Alberta, and Public Health Ontario says (no surprise) that three-quarters of cases here are among unvaccinated children. Vaccination rates have fallen significantly post-COVID, below the 95 per cent rate that experts say is required to keep the highly infectious disease from spreading.

As for Florida鈥檚 move to end vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, that鈥檚 an easy target but in itself it may not be as significant as it first looks.

For one thing, based strictly on school mandates Canada doesn鈥檛 compare well with the U.S. All 50 states require children to be vaccinated to attend school but only three provinces (Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba) have legal mandates. Ontario and New Brunswick require vaccination against six childhood diseases, including measles, while Manitoba requires only a measles shot.

Of course, it鈥檚 more complicated than that. All provinces have school vaccination programs and even those with mandates have exceptions for medical reasons as well as on religious or 鈥減hilosophical鈥� grounds, a major loophole. So the practical effect is difficult to judge.

Plus all sorts of other factors are at play聽鈥� including the rise of vaccine hesitancy, or outright vaccine opposition, during and after COVID; spotty access to family doctors; and cultural considerations. The Ontario outbreak, for example, appears to involve some Mennonite communities with relatively low vaccination rates.

Sorting all that out isn鈥檛 easy. But it seems clear public health authorities have been slow to react to this year鈥檚 upsurge in measles and to the broader decline in vaccination rates.

They certainly haven鈥檛 been making a big noise about it, perhaps because of a feeling that the public doesn鈥檛 want to be lectured about getting their shots after living through the pandemic experience. What government wants to revive memories of that wretched time?

Ontario鈥檚 chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, made some modest suggestions recently. The measles outbreak, he said, underscores the need for a national vaccination schedule and registry. The current fragmented system, he said in his annual report, contributes to confusion in the public and makes it harder for health authorities to monitor the effectiveness of vaccines.

This sounds like pretty basic stuff and it鈥檚 disappointing, to say the least, that with the pandemic experience so recently behind us we haven鈥檛 properly addressed such issues. Measles, to be sure, is a relatively mild disease but the fact that it鈥檚 been spreading so quickly should be a loud wake-up call for governments to take action before something more serious comes along聽鈥� as it surely will.

In the meantime, Canadians need not look south for vaccine villains. Right now we鈥檙e the problem and it鈥檚 up to us to figure out the solutions.