As of the third week of June, Canada had endured 21 straight months of uncontrolled measles transmission. Thousands of Canadians have been infected, many of them hospitalized. The country has lost the measles elimination status it achieved in 1998.

The human toll of the outbreak is well-recognized – with discussions focusing on the suffering experienced by patients and their families– as is the strain the outbreak has put on an already burdened health-care system.

However, another serious consequence is receiving far less attention: the cost ultimately borne by taxpayers and society. Recognizing the economic impact of measles does not minimize its human toll. Rather, it may help policymakers understand vaccination as an investment that prevents much greater human, social and economic harm.

Calculating the cost per case

A study by researchers at Stanford University estimated that each measles case in the United States in 2025 imposed an estimated cost of US$104,629. Their estimate included direct medical costs associated with hospitalizations and treatment, as well as public health expenditures such as testing, contact tracing and outbreak management.

The analysis also accounted for productivity losses experienced by caregivers and future earnings losses resulting from school absenteeism. Most cases in the current outbreak have occurred among children and adolescents, making this last factoConverted to Canadian dollars, this estimate is approximately $146,000 per case. Applying this figure to the more than 6,400 measles cases experienced in Canada by mid-June, the current outbreak may already have imposed an economic burden approaching $935 million – a staggering figure for a disease that was once eliminated here. particularly relevant.

Of course, these estimates should be interpreted with caution. As outbreaks grow larger, the average cost per case tends to decline because certain expenditures, such as surveillance systems, laboratory infrastructure and workforce........

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