Manitoba pharmacists will be enlisted to help curb the spread of measles amid the worst outbreak of the highly contagious disease in decades.

Pharmacists Manitoba issued a public statement on Monday morning urging the province to enable pharmacists to give the measles vaccine as cases climb.

Government agreed hours later.

“I think that’s a really good common-sense step that we can take to make sure that more Manitobans have access to a really important vaccine right now,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Monday afternoon.

“I’m going to be signing that order for that to be in place tomorrow.”

Asagwara said Pharmacists Manitoba reached out to their office last week asking to help, as Manitoba’s 2026 caseload recently surged past year-end totals for all of 2025.

The minister’s office says anyone under 20 will be eligible to get vaccinated against measles at pharmacies.

As of the latest update, Manitoba had recorded more than 400 cases since March 21, which amounted to about two-thirds of all cases across Canada.

More than three dozen people have been hospitalized due to measles, four of whom were admitted to intensive care. More than half were 10 or younger.

Manitoba pharmacists are already able to vaccinate against the flu, COVID-19, HPV and pneumonia. Manitobans can also get the Tdap vaccine at their local pharmacist, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (or whooping cough).

Five other provinces already permit pharmacists to administer the measles vaccine: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and British Columbia.

Britt Kural, pharmacy practice adviser with Pharmacists Manitoba, said she was glad to learn the health minister will expand measles vaccination access to pharmacists.

More immunizations

“I am happy to hear that the government has heard our concerns,” she said. “We are doing this type of work already, and it really needs to be more all hands-on-deck type of approach to solving a problem like this. And we know it’s a growing problem.”

Kural said along with improving access more broadly, allowing pharmacists to administer the measles shot could mean more people immunized and, ideally, fewer people landing in hospital.

“We know that can reduce one more appointment that is being placed on another health-care practitioner who may need to deal with something that’s more complicated, more urgent,” Kural said.

“We can help alleviate that work in primary care with other health-care practitioners and, hopefully, prevent hospitalizations.”

Doctors Manitoba, which represents physicians in the province, says the organization needs to consult with physicians about the move.

“This request to expand childhood vaccines to retail pharmacies is new, and we will need time to consult physicians about it,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“That said, any Manitoban with questions about vaccination can ask a doctor and expect unbiased, trustworthy answers to help you make your own decision about vaccination. “