A current hotspot for measles is in Aylmer Ontario. That is an area where many drive horse and buggies.
As Matt Galloway said on CBC radio The Current said, “the measles cases in Ontario are concentrated in the southwest part of Ontario.” Why your ask? Mennonites of course. As Galloway said:
“It is ground zero for the measles outbreak in the south west part of that province (Ontario) in the Mennonite community where vaccination rates are low.” James Shirani took a trip though that area and said this Mennonite country was ground zero in the measles outbreak.”
He drove to a restaurant called Mennomex and talked to Nancy Thiessen who seems to have contracted measles from her contact with her unvaccinated granddaughter. All of her grandchildren are not vaccinated. But she said, “I’m not really worried about it.” Why worry? Life is simple. Or is it?
Shirani confirmed that from his talks to Mennonite theologians there was nothing in the Mennonite religion to suggest vaccines were contrary to their religion, but there was a high level of distrust among some Mennonites of the medical system and the government.
Shirani interviewed a woman who said “there was nothing good in those vaccines. Nothing in there is going to do you any good at all.” She was standing beside a garden and Shirani asked her what she did to protect herself. Her answer was “we pick those yellow things. And those purple things. They do more for us than anything ever could…Dandelions darling. I know dandelions! And strawberries. You can use the leaves as well.”
So instead of trusting modern medicines she trusted dandelions, violets and strawberries!”
Shirani asked her what she thought of vaccines. “Vaccines are not a requirement for us. There’s dirt in there than of any well-being. Grandma grew up without them and so can we.”
He also spoke to David Ayoki who is the Chief nursing officer at Waterloo where there is according to Shirani, the greatest diversity of Mennonites in the all of Canada. Some of them speak low German he said. He said Covid had created a divide between the local Mennonites and public health. The tried to build trust over time, but things like isolation and being kept away from their churches did not help to build the trust they needed.
The local health authorities say that measles is disproportionately affecting Mennonites.
Holly Silverhorn a local business woman was interviewed and said the people who were being infected by this preventable disease had not been vaccinated and did not seem to understand vaccines at all. Stigma and finger pointing will just make things worse. That might cause them to pull away even further from public health.