Alberta’s former top doctor speaks out on measles shortly after leaving job

Shortly after leaving his job as Alberta’s chief medical officer of health (CMOH), the province’s former top doctor is speaking out on measles and the importance of vaccination.

In a written op-ed piece for the Calgary Herald, Dr. Mark Joffe emphasized how serious the disease is and how important it is for people to get vaccinated against it.

“Measles is a horrid illness. It is much more severe than most childhood infections,” Joffe writes. “While most people recover, some don’t.”

“It is all entirely preventable with immunization.”

University of Calgary health law professor Lorian Hardcastle says the timing of Joffe’s written piece is curious considering there wasn’t much heard from him when he held the top doctor post.

“It invites people to speculate that perhaps the province was controlling some of the messaging when he was in the CMOH’s office,” she says.

Hardcastle says it is deeply concerning that there has been a lack of leadership from Danielle Smith’s UCP government around measles, which she thinks is political.

“The premier and the minister of health have been so silent on this issue of measles,” she says. “They seem to refuse to encourage people to get vaccinated, or speak on the benefits of vaccination, or anything.”

She says Alberta needs to follow the lead of other provinces and be more proactive.

“The less the province says and the more reluctant they are to take leadership on this issue, the more cases there will be and the more people will suffer as a result,” she says.

Health minister Adriana LaGrange responded to Joffe’s op-ed on social media, linking to the article and thanking the former CMOH for highlighting the importance of the measles vaccine.

In a statement to CityNews, an Alberta health official said the government “is taking the current measles outbreaks in the province seriously and continues to monitor them closely. While the current situation in the province is concerning, the vast majority of cases remain traceable.”

Joffe’s contract expires

Hardcastle also believes having a revolving door when it comes to provincial healthcare leadership is not ideal, referencing similar changes in Alberta Health Services leadership and the agency’s board.

The province announced Joffe’s contract expired last week against the backdrop of ongoing measles outbreaks. The minister of health’s office did not specify why his contract wasn’t extended.

Smith said last week that LaGrange was hoping Joffe would accept a contract extension, but he went on to “other opportunities.”

He had just recently released his first public statement since 2023, encouraging vaccination against measles, before the news broke that he left the position.

Joffe was serving in the role on an interim basis, after Premier Danielle Smith’s government fired Dr. Deena Hinshaw in 2022. Hinshaw held the position throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hardcastle believes the changing cast of health officials in recent years along with the UCP government’s tendency to politicize health issues makes it difficult for the province to retain a CMOH.

“This is a province that has leaders who don’t always embrace science, and if I’m a CMOH that believes deeply in evidence and science and doing what’s in the best interest of the public, I don’t think this is a government I’d want to work for,” she says.

The province says it is searching for a permanent replacement, but announced Dr. Sunil Sookram as a new interim replacement last week.

Alberta measles cases

Health officials reported more than 30 new cases of measles this week, bringing the province’s total to 129 since early March.

The government says the vast majority of cases are no longer contagious and the majority involve children between five and 17 years old.

Dr. Craig Jenne, an infectious disease specialist, says the officials numbers could just be the “tip of the iceberg,” and there are a number of reasons why pinning down an exact count is tough to do.

“We do know that some infectious diseases are under-reported,” he says. “So if people are not severely ill or don’t seek a doctor’s attention, they’re not going to end up in the system, so they’re not getting tested.”

An Alberta Health official, in a statement, says measles cases are reportable and investigated to determine the source and risk to others. Thus far, the known sources of infection have been identified.

The province says there is no indication of widespread, undetected transmission and the province is exploring other ways to share information on the disease and the importance of vaccination.

WIth files from The Canadian Press