Almost 70 per cent of Canadians surveyed want child vaccines to be mandatory: poll

A new poll suggests nearly 70 per cent of Canadians support mandatory childhood vaccinations.

The Angus Reid Institute survey comes as a measles outbreak touches several provinces, primarily infecting unvaccinated infants, kids and teens.

The poll of almost 1,700 Canadians found 69 per cent of respondents between May 20 and 23 said proof of immunization should be required for kids to attend daycare and school.

That's an increase from the 55 per cent of respondents who said the same thing last year, before the outbreak began. 

Public Health Ontario says it has seen 93 new measles cases over the past week, bringing the province's total number of infections to 1,888 since October. 

That’s compared to 173 new cases reported May 22  and 182 reported May 15. 

Ontario officials say measles has sent 141 people to hospital so far, including 101 unvaccinated infants, kids and teenagers, and 10 people who required intensive care. 

Alberta reported a cumulative total of 628 cases on Wednesday.

Half of the poll respondents in Ontario and Alberta said they believed more should be done to control the outbreak at all levels of health management, from the premier to the chief medical officer of health. 

Proof of vaccination is mandatory for kids to attend school in Ontario and New Brunswick, unless they have a valid exemption, but that's not the case across the country. 

The percentage of respondents who favoured proof of vaccination was slightly lower in Alberta, at 60 per cent, but higher than the 48 per cent of Albertans who supported a mandate last year.

A Canadian Journal of Public Health article published in October 2024 found approximately 76 per cent of seven-year-olds were vaccinated against measles in 2023, down from just over 86 per cent in 2019. 

The poll also found 37 per cent of respondents in Alberta said they had no confidence in their provincial government's response to measles, while 30 per cent said the same in Saskatchewan and 27 per cent said that in Ontario.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Geoff Robins