Dr. Mark Joffe speaks to the media, in Calgary, in September, 2023.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Alberta is without a chief medical officer of health as outbreaks of measles hit all regions of the province.
Alberta Health, in a statement Tuesday, said Mark Joffe’s contract expired Monday. Premier Danielle Smith, in November, 2022, appointed Dr. Joffe to the role after firing Deena Hinshaw, who shepherded the province through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government said it has launched a search to find a permanent replacement.
The province counted 77 cases of measles Tuesday, up from 58 on April 11, when Dr. Joffe issued his only comprehensive statement on the spread of the infectious disease. In March, the government released a short statement from him as part of a bulletin when Alberta confirmed six cases of measles in a single household.
Dr. Joffe did not acknowledge a message seeking comment.
“We anticipate announcing an interim Chief Medical Officer of Health imminently,” Maddison McKee, a spokesperson for Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, said in a statement. “In the meantime, we will continue to rely on the advice of the many public health experts and officials at Alberta Health, as well as zone medical officers of health at Alberta Health Services.”
In 2025, Canada has counted 731 confirmed and probable measles cases in six provinces as of March 29, according to data aggregated by the federal government. Of these cases, 635 are linked to an outbreak that started in New Brunswick in October, according to Health Canada. Six of Alberta’s cases reported between October and the end of March are tied to this multijurisdictional outbreak.
Measles has been eliminated in Canada since 1998, although cases still emerge, usually owing to travel from regions where the disease still circulates. Canada reported an average of 91 cases a year between 1998 and 2024.
Ms. Smith came to power in part by harnessing angst from vaccine skeptics and residents angry about immunization mandates during the pandemic. Of the 35 confirmed measles cases in Alberta as of April 5, the last time the provincial dashboard was updated, 30 patients were unvaccinated and five had received just one dose.
In the legislature on Tuesday, Ms. Smith said over 89 per cent of children up to the age of 13 in Alberta have received the measles vaccine. This matches data from 2023, the most recently publicly available information.
The Premier said the province is taking a “targeted approach” in responding to the measles outbreaks and disseminating information.
“When we do have these localized outbreaks, it is the local medical officer of health who ends up taking the lead,” she said.
The United Conservative Party is redesigning the province’s health care system and promised public health continues to be a “top priority” during the transition.