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The United States is experiencing its largest measles epidemic in a quarter century, with no end in sight, and its epicenter is in Hassidic Jewish communities in New York, where misinformation about immunization prevents health officials from end the epidemic.
"The biggest challenge we face right now is misinformation and myths about the vaccine – it's important for parents to know that the vaccine is safe and effective," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, National Center Director, told Fox News. of immunization and respiratory diseases.
An anti-vaccination propaganda specifically targeting parents has appeared in the Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Rockland County, New York, Hasidic communities, and it seems to have convinced some mothers that vaccines are more dangerous than the disease. The vast majority of 704 confirmed measles cases in 22 states are located in these communities, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), released Monday. Of these, 432 are in Brooklyn.
An anti-vaccination organization known as PEACH has published a 40-page booklet, filled with misinformation and discredited scientific data explaining why it is said that vaccines are dangerous. Among the many discredited claims, there is the fact that vaccines cause autism and are made up of aborted fetuses.
The booklet quotes well-known rabbis who say it is acceptable to keep unvaccinated children and send them to school. He even compares the US government to the Nazis.
"The Nazis argued that their experiences were for" the greater good of society, "" reads in the booklet. "Our right to refuse medical treatment is denied to us in the name of public health (precisely the logic used by the Nazis)."
Other so-called "anti-vaxxers" have posted leaflets with the image of a vaccine needle attached to a pleading handgun: "Vaccines are dangerous!"
Health officials in Rockland County, New York, told Fox News that the misinformation had convinced enough mothers in the Hasidic community to trigger the longest measles outbreak since the outbreak. eradication of the disease in the United States in 2000. On Monday, 202 cases of measles were confirmed. the enclave about 45 minutes north of New York.
"It's very frustrating because it's misinformation." It's a bad idea for people in the community and the concern of this group is that they affect a population where a lot what moms decide is word of mouth, "said Rockland County Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Ruppert.
A working group on vaccination of Orthodox Jews, made up of more than a dozen Jewish health professionals, has issued its own pamphlet, PIE, to refute all of PEACH's false claims. Blima Marcus, leader of the task force, said that other mothers in Hasidic communities had more influence than rabbis.
"They do not turn to the rabbis for daily decisions such as preventive care," Marcus said. "They [anti-vaxxers] use all factors of emotional fear. There is nothing more fearful for a woman than hurting your child. "
Anti-vaxxers even arrange automated house calls and have a phone number that allows people to join live teleconferences, where misinformation is broadcast and information about the vaccination is not forthcoming.
"When I had the call just to listen, I heard those who had spoken with scientific information and the importance of vaccination and they were fired very quickly several times," said Dr. Ruppert.
To combat the anti-vaccination message, the New York City Department of Health organized 30,000 automated calls in English and Yiddish. They also published posters and documents in both languages informing the community of the benefits of vaccination. The city has also issued a rare mandatory vaccination order for all adults and children of the postal codes involved in Williamsburg. In Rockland County, emergency orders were issued to prevent all people with measles or measles from going out in public.
Orders have encouraged more than 40,000 MMR vaccinations since outbreaks began in October. In Rockland County, officials said that there would likely remain a few thousand unvaccinated children and that a mandatory vaccination order would likely be the next step if the outbreak continued.
Schools in both New York communities have been ordered to exclude unvaccinated children. The New York Department of Health closed seven schools for non-compliance, five of which were reopened on Monday.
Epidemics in New York began when unvaccinated travelers, mostly children, traveled to Israel and became infected in October. According to the CDC, the combination of measles imported from Israel, Ukraine and the Philippines and an above-average non-vaccination rate in Hasidic communities fueled the epidemic of measles.
In total, the number of measles cases worldwide has increased by 300% due to the growing growth of under-vaccinated communities. According to the CDC, about 75% of measles cases in the last five years have occurred in island communities such as Amish or Hasidic Jews. These communities are more cohesive, have more children, and are at risk of receiving wrong information.
The CDC expects the epidemic to continue and the number of cases to increase, but in the meantime, some Orthodox leaders fear that increasing attention may fuel anti-Semitic sentiments.
"The fact is that there are anti-vaxxers in all communities, in all lifestyles," said Yossi Gestetner, spokesman for the Jewish Orthodox Public Affairs Council. "I am very concerned about the potential of profiling and antisemitic incidents."
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The rabbis repeat that the Jewish religion does not ban vaccinations. Yet, thousands of people would have religious exemptions for vaccines in New York.
On Monday, Rockland County officials gathered in the state capital in Albany to support a Senate bill to ban religious exemptions for immunization.
"A mixture of complacency, misinformation, skepticism about vaccinations and a lack of access to these vaccines has led to inadequate immunization rates globally," said Ed Day, executive director of the World Health Organization. Rockland County. "As a state and as a nation, we must solve this problem now."
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