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MONSEY, NY – An ultra-Orthodox rabbi has falsely described the measles outbreak among Jews as part of a plan developed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York, to divert the bloodshed. attention of "more serious" diseases brought by migrants from Central America.
A pediatrician asked if Jews were intentionally receiving "bad" batches of vaccines that gave children a new strain of the virus. And Andrew Wakefield, the UK doctor whose study linking measles vaccines to autism was widely discredited and condemned, appeared via Skype to offer an almost apocalyptic view of a world in which vaccines would produce more deadly diseases resistant to autism. the vaccination.
"We the Hasidim have been chosen as targets," said Rabbi Hillel Handler. "The campaign against us has been a success."
Since the beginning of the measles epidemic last autumn, health authorities have embarked on a comprehensive and comprehensive campaign, repeatedly urging the population to be vaccinated and fighting the spread of misinformation. They have made special efforts in the ultra-Orthodox communities of Brooklyn and Rockland County, New York, where the disease has spread most rapidly.
But Monday's rally in Monsey, a town in Rockland County, about 30 km northwest of New York City, clearly showed how anti-vaccine fervor is not only sustainable, but perhaps grow: hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered together "Vaccination Symposium" with leaders anti-vaccination movement.
Organized by a Jewish group based in Monsey, the event also showed how much the movement was gaining ground: Greg Mitchell, a Washington-based lobbyist and representative of the Church of Scientology, attended the meeting and discussed Is addressed to the crowd, offering to be their "Voice in the game of public policy."
The rally was denounced by local officials, health authorities and some ultra-Orthodox rabbis, who claimed that speakers were spreading propaganda that the epidemic could escalate, threatening the health of countless people.
The event was held in a large ballroom. As is customary at ultra-Orthodox gatherings, men were separated from women by an improvised wall. The speakers were presented and applauded as if it was celebrity.
The remarks – and the delighted public – have shown how the anti-vaccination movement can exploit fear and anxiety in relatively isolated communities, particularly religious communities, to undermine the scientifically valid warnings of health experts .
"They are doubling up and expanding their messages – capitalizing on fear," said Dr. Jane Zucker, assistant commissioner for immunization of the New York City Department of Health, during an interview. "Parents are afraid of who and what to believe."
Rabbi Handler, a 77-year-old Brooklyn resident who said he was a Holocaust survivor, set the tone for the night by claiming that Jews were being persecuted because they were carriers of diseases and that they were attacked on the street in New York for sneezing. (The The Anti-Defamation League has strongly opposed the appropriation of Holocaust symbols by vaccine critics.)
Blasio has published a public health emergency for four postcodes in Brooklyn, home to ultra-Orthodox Jews. This decision seems to have earned him the wrath of Rabbi Handler, who described Blasio as a "sneaky" and a German look-alike – "Wilhelm, his real name, was named after the Kaiser Wilhelm of 1939." ;Germany".
(In fact, none of this is true.Mr. De Blasio was born Warren Wilhelm Jr. and then decided to take his mother's surname as his after being alienated from his father.)
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Rabbi Handler sought to soften his anti-vaccine remarks.
"It does not bother me if someone takes a vaccine. It's not my business, "he said. "What am I, a fascist? Am I going to break the law?
The pediatrician who spoke Monday night, Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, is regularly quoted in pamphlets distributed in New York urging women not to vaccinate their children. His opinions have no scientific basis, experts said.
At the rally, he spoke at length about the virus mutation and falsely claimed that nonconforming vaccines produced a new strain of measles. The women scribbled in the notebook while he was talking. Others have filmed his comments, sending them to their contacts on WhatsApp. Essentially, he added, there were no studies to determine the effects of the vaccine on the human body.
"Is it possible that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is somehow administered in this lot to the communities? in Williamsburg and Lakewood and Monseyperhaps at Borough Park, is it possible that these lands are bad? He asked, referring to areas of New York and New Jersey with large, ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.
"It's fascinating, because we're told how contagious the disease is, but it's kind of focused on the Jewish community."
Dr. Palevsky could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Mr. Wakefield, who had been stripped of his medical clearance in Britain about 20 years ago for fraudulent claims linking vaccines to autism, has accused the health authorities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to deceive the public. But before that, he insisted on his own innocence.
"I wanted to make sure that I've never been involved in a scientific fraud," he said via Skype from a dark room, his face looking white at a time when he was projected on two large screens. "What has happened is what happens to the doctors who have threatened the financial results of the pharmaceutical companies."
Rockland County has the highest number of cases recorded after New York. But there are also other outbreaks of major epidemics, and not all of them belong to religious communities.
C.D.C. Monday announced that the number of measles cases reported in the country increased by 75 last week, bringing the total number of cases in 23 states to 839, the highest number ever seen since measles was declared eliminated in 2000.
The city of New York alone has seen 498 confirmed cases of the disease since September. According to official figures, 274 cases have been confirmed in the rest of the state of New York. About 80% of these cases were in Rockland County.
New York authorities used a a number of tactics to force people to get vaccinated, including banning unvaccinated children from attending schools with low immunization rates or threatening parents with a fine of one thousand dollars for not vaccinating their children.
The strategies have been largely successful, health officials insisted, even though there have been setbacks.
In Rockland County, for example, a declaration of a state of emergency declaring a ban on unvaccinated children to go to public places was challenged by parents and stopped after a judge ruled that the epidemic did not legally deserve a declaration of urgency.
The county executive, Ed Day, issued a new statement last month to prevent people exposed to measles from being in public places.
Local officials, including Mr. Day and Rabbi Chaim Schabes, expressed their indignation in a joint statement to the "strangers" who staged Monday's rally and "are targeting our community."
"The event tonight and the misinformation that is shared against every statement of the medical experts and elected officials of our county," reads the statement.
"This type of propaganda endangers the health and safety of children in our community and around the world and must be denounced in the strongest possible language."
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