New York City defends measles immunization order in court

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York City Department of Health on Thursday defended its mandatory measles vaccination order in a state court after a group of unnamed parents in Brooklyn filed lawsuits. a lawsuit, claiming that the order was unconstitutional.

The ministry issued this order last week, saying it was an unusual but necessary step to contain the worst outbreak of highly contagious virus seen in the city since 1991. This epidemic has already infected 329 people, most of whom are children of Orthodox Jewish communities. in Brooklyn.

The order, which was extended this week, requires unvaccinated people living in some affected neighborhoods in Brooklyn to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella if they can not otherwise demonstrate their immunity against measles or must pay a fine of $ 1,000.

Five people who said they were parents living in the affected neighborhoods continued this week the department in the Brooklyn Supreme Court, filing their complaint anonymously, to protect the privacy of their children, according to their lawyers.

Their lawyers told Judge Lawrence Knipel that the city had exceeded his powers, indicating that 329 confirmed cases so far did not constitute an epidemic. They argued that quarantining people with measles would be a preferable approach.

"It's excessive, it's coercive," Robert Krakow, a parents' lawyer, told the court. He added that he estimated that 0.0006% of the Brooklyn and Queens population had measles. "It's not an epidemic," he said. "It's not the Ebola virus. It is not smallpox. He said even vaccinated people could transmit the virus and that vaccination included a "risk of injury," which the city has contested.

Ministry lawyers argued that it was a serious epidemic and that quarantine was ineffective because infected persons could be contagious before the onset of symptoms. They said the trial was based on a false or discredited science.

Ministry of Health lawyers said that three or more cases constituted an epidemic, with the United States reporting the disease eliminated in 2000, which means it no longer occurs all the time. year. Measles can lead to serious complications and death.

"This percentage is irrelevant," Sherrill Kurland, a lawyer in the city's legal department, told the court. "Rates of transmission have continued to increase. These areas remain a concern. "

The Brooklyn epidemic was attributed to an unvaccinated child who was infected during a visit to Israel, which is also experiencing an epidemic.

The number of measles cases worldwide has almost quadrupled in the first quarter of 2019, rising to 112,163 people compared to the same period last year, announced the World Health Organization this week while the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported at least 20 cases of measles. States.

Judge Knipel announced that he would announce his decision to temporarily block the order of the city by the end of the week.