U of Sask. researcher reports decline in public trust of health experts
'Less politics and more science': epidemiologist Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine
An epidemiology professor from the University of Saskatchewan is reporting a serious erosion in public trust of health authorities among Canadians.
Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine from the of S College of Medicine helped lead the Trust Dynamics and Equity in Public Health Project, which surveyed more than 5,600 Canadians from across the country on their perceptions of various health bodies since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Muhajarine said most people still trust scientists and physicians, but only about half of respondents trust public health authorities. The research indicated trust is generally lowest in the Prairie provinces.
Equally striking was the change in public trust since the COVID-19 pandemic. Muhajarine found that trust in public health authorities in particular has declined dramatically.
Now Muhajarine is focused on repairing that trust. He said that when people were asked what helped improve their confidence in health authorities, the biggest was the perception of honesty.
"Trust starts with truth. They wanted people who are in positions of authority to be open, honest, tell the truth, even if it is difficult, even if it is uncertain," he said.
The perception of political interference in public health policies was also highly relevant.
"People were very perceptive and very clear that when they see a public health leader and a provincial political leader on the same stage, where the public health leader will lay out the epidemiology … and then it'll switch to the provincial political leader," Muhajarine said. "Sometimes there was a disconnect between what they just heard from the public health leader a few minutes ago and what they were hearing from the political leader.
"What they wanted right from the beginning was clear communication and also less politics, not policy. Less politics and more science."
Measles outbreak declared in Saskatchewan
Declining trust in health bodies comes amid a growing measles outbreak in Canada, which in Saskatchewan has been driven by unvaccinated children.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority reports that as of May 8, there have been 27 cases of measles confirmed this year in Saskatchewan. Most of those are from the past week.
On Thursday, Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said the social contract had been "broken" due to the unwillingness of people to take vaccines. He said new infections are now being driven by community spread among the unvaccinated, not foreign travellers bringing the virus into the province.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority said that while measles has no known treatment, the vaccine is almost 100 per cent effective after two doses.
According to the Saskatchewan government, the percentage of children receiving both recommended doses of the measles vaccine by age two has dropped to 75.5 per cent in 2024 from 80.2 per cent in 2020. Coverage by age seven has also declined, to 87.4 per cent in 2024 from 90.4 per cent in 2020.
"In the broad sense, it's not up to the health-care system. The health-care system will provide care where it can," he said. "The power to stop it is up to each of us who make decisions for ourselves to get vaccinated and decisions for our children who are unable to make decisions for themselves."
Dr. Shahab said most of the new measles cases are from school-aged children and younger, underscoring the need for children in particular to be vaccinated. Currently vaccinations can be offered to any child more than 12 months old.
In Ontario and News Brunswick, proof of immunization for measles is mandatory for children to attend school.
Dr. Muhajarine said he supports a similar measure in Saskatchewan, though he acknowledges the resistance to mandatory vaccinations among some groups in the province.
"There's a sense that we don't want to be too intrusive on people by requiring them to do things, particularly things related to health and particularly around the vaccine," he said.
He was asked what he would say to a parent hesitant to vaccinate their child.
"I would talk about the fact that we all want our children to be healthy, safe, and have a good life. And one way to keep them safe and healthy is to provide vaccines that are science based."
Saskatoon resident Iryna Lytvyn-Kotisurka said that while she also thinks vaccination is important to protect against measles, it should be a choice.
"I actually do the vaccination for all of my kids, but I think it's a choice for everyone, but maybe to speak more about this and to explain people how important this is," she said.
In a statement Friday, the provincial Ministry of Health said it has not identified the need for, or any potential benefits of, mandatory immunization legislation in Saskatchewan. It said it will continue to monitor jurisdictions that have mandatory immunization to see the impact on immunization rates.
"Ontario and New Brunswick have legislation requiring immunizations for children enrolling in school. The Ministry is not aware of any other Canadian jurisdiction considering mandatory immunization legislation," the statement said.
Shruti Kodad, a Saskatoon mother, said that she would like to see a similar law in Saskatchewan, along with more education about the illness.
"I think we should educate people and basically spread the correct information," Kodad said in an interview. "I think there is a lot of things which went around COVID, but I think people are just extrapolating. So I guess that's the reason why there is so much vaccine hesitancy."
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With files from Jeffery Tram, Aishwarya Dudha and The Morning Edition