In the neighbouring independent nation of Samoa, more than 60 people have died, mostly children, from the measles and more than 4,000 were infected since the outbreak started in mid-October, health officials said.

The battle to quell the devastating outbreak has been complicated by a vocal anti-vaccination movement, officials say.

Samoa is trying to contain a measles outbreak that has killed more than 50 people in just weeks.

WHO noted that two large epidemics in New York are over but small outbreaks elsewhere in the U.S. continue.

Samoa's measles outbreak has claimed 25 lives so far, almost all of them young children.

Cardy acknowledges Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which allows governments to override parts of the charter, is rarely used.

Infants typically don't receive the measles vaccine until they are 12 months old. That results in a "quite alarming" susceptibility gap.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Friday his country would send 3,000 vaccines and 12 nurses to Samoa to assist with the outbreak.

More than 58,000 people this year were infected with measles in Ukraine, a country where only half the population believes vaccines work.

A pair of studies looking at an unvaccinated community suggest that measles hurts the immune system, making it hard to fight off other infections.