An outbreak of measles in New York highlights the religious exemptions of the vaccine

HAVERSTRAW, NY (AFP) – Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, health commissioner of a district in a suburb of New York, feels "out of date."

Since October, she has fought hard to stop one of the worst measles outbreaks in the United States in 20 years.

Among his daily battles: constantly having to repeat that the vaccine did not cause other diseases, that it did not lead to autism and that the use of fetal tissue to produce the vaccine had ended several decades ago.

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Pushing back this "junk food science" absorbs much of its energy as it strives to educate and persuade the 300,000 people of Rockland County to cooperate with health and safety authorities. alert them to any new cases of illness.

In 27 years of practicing medicine, said Ruppert, it is "one of the most difficult health crises I have had to face".

Friday, measles – officially eliminated from the United States in 2000 – had hit 167 people in this county along the Hudson River, including nine new cases this week.

Of the six regional measles outbreaks reported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the largest public health institute in the United States, Rockland County is the most concentrated.

And yet, the county has not run out of resources to tackle the problem.

Unprecedented measures

Since October, each case has been systematically studied to determine how many people have been exposed to the ultra-contagious virus.

Exposed people are then contacted to make sure they have been immunized and, if they have not been, they are then vaccinated.

Dozens of free vaccination clinics have been held in the county – including a Friday in the city of Haverstraw – with 17,654 doses of vaccine administered to date.

The goal is to raise the vaccination rate of the current 72%, said Ruppert. A vaccination rate of 95% is considered necessary to prevent epidemics.

On Monday, county officials will meet with law and health professionals to identify potential new strategies to fight the epidemic.

This comes after the county took the unprecedented step on March 26 to ban unvaccinated minors from schools and public places for 30 days.

Several public health experts have welcomed the county's decision.

However, a dozen parents of public school students sued the county, claiming that the measure was disproportionate to the danger, all the more so since it did not go unnoticed. There have been no deaths to date.

On Friday, they obtained a partial victory: a judge issued an injunction asking county officials to lift the ban on any child enjoying a "religious exemption", at least until the end of the year. April 19th.

"Religious Exemption" – For many people in the county, words are at the heart of the debate about the resurgence of measles and the rise of the anti-vaccine movement.

Religious Exemptions

Like most US states – all but three – New York requires a series of vaccinations for school-aged children, but grants exemptions for medical and religious reasons.

In Rockland County, the local Jewish community accounts for about one-third of the county's population, including a large number of Orthodox Jews.

This places this community at the heart of the vaccine debate, increasing the risk of fueling anti-Semitism, said Gary Siepser, president of the Rockland Jewish Community Foundation.

He points out that there exist in the Jewish community and elsewhere anti-vaccine advocates who invoke religion to justify themselves – but who are motivated simply by their anti-vaccine beliefs.

"You will not find rabbis quoting Jewish law to say that people should not be vaccinated," he said, noting that his federation, along with other Jewish organizations, is encouraging the vaccination.

"It's shocking that these things do not worry me with my children because they could be vaccinated. All of a sudden, parents need to worry about their children getting a life-threatening illness, "Siepser said.

"It's as if the watch had been returned – it's crazy!"

"It's really scary there"

Several Orthodox mothers interviewed this week by AFP have attacked anti-vaccine parents. One of them was Cindy Scher, a mother of four children aged 7 to 17, who were all vaccinated.

"It's really scary," she said.

"We all share the same roads, we share the same shops, we all have to interact with each other. We can not just worry about my religious beliefs, your religious beliefs, "she said while leaving a Kosher supermarket in Monsey, the epicenter of the county's Orthodox community.

In this context, some legislators in the state of New York this week proposed a law ending immunization exemptions.

"I think it's a good idea," said Health Commissioner Ruppert.

But Friday's decision in favor of the anti-vaccine forces complicates an already difficult debate.

"It's a country that has an interesting relationship with religion, the country was founded by people seeking some kind of religious freedom," Siepser said.

"The question is when a person's freedom ends and another person's rights begin."