‘If the numbers are right, we’re in trouble’: Behind the comeback of measles in Canada

In 2009, a half-dozen doctors, epidemiologists and other high-level decision makers gathered inside a conference room at the Ottawa headquarters of the Public Health Agency of Canada for a meeting that would soon turn contentious.

The purpose of the meeting was to examine the latest measles vaccination numbers from across the country. But this new round of data was unsettling, prompting debate among those in the room who didn’t believe what they were looking at.